The Last Laugh
by The Chosen One1
Summary: (Written one year ago, to the day. Has nothing to do with the DC event of the same name.) The final confrontation between Robin and Joker.
1. Chapter 1

Two weeks before New Years:  
  
The night air was eerily quiet in Gotham City. The traffic of people was slow. Slower than ever before. The winds were calm, and the sky was clear. No clouds. No airplanes. No Bat Signal. Only the stars and the moon. The buildings, however, loomed rather auspiciously. Like giants, hungry for the flesh of human innocence.  
  
Leaping confidently on the backs of these mad giants was a lone figure, clad in lavender and black. She wore a dark hood, mask covering her face and features. Her real name was Stephanie, but, in costume, she was known as `The Spoiler'.  
  
Her cape fluttered as she perilously danced with the edges of oblivion. She seemingly flew through the air, as though she was born with wings. An avenging angel in a dark kingdom that knew none. An outsider amongst the group of heroic defenders who protected the shadows of night from the beasts.  
  
Her mood was calm, complacent. Her mind was like a blank slate, void of thought as she soared through the starry sky. A far cry of how she was normally now-a- days. As of recently, her mind has been troubled with issues of love and identity. Between a love whom she knew nothing about, and a mother who refused her to do what she was undeniably BORN to do. So, to escape these thoughts, she embraced the music of the night, letting her body twist and contort to the rhythmic pounding of her heart as she perched herself on a lone building top.  
  
A moment of pause for her. A moment of respite. She let her tensions flow from her body, let her muscles loosen like rubber strands. The nearby street lights hummed, as her breath billowed in the cold air. She held her cape close to her, hiding her features, letting the shadows of the night wrap her like a blanket.  
  
"Excuse me, miss," a voice whispered close to her. "Do you have the time?"  
  
She spun on her heels, and was met with a cloud of green gas. As the gas filled her lungs, and unconsciousness overwhelmed her, she managed to lay her eyes on her assailant.  
  
"Y...you...." she whispered as she collapsed to the ground. That was the last thing she saw as the darkness enveloped her.  
  
**********************************  
  
One week before New Years:  
  
  
  
Located deep within the seclusion of a large mountain range was an `abandoned' resort. However, for an abandoned resort, it was uncommonly noisy within. For, unbeknownst to the general public, this was the secret headquarters of the super team known as `Young Justice'.  
  
The Christmas decorations were still hung proudly throughout the building, as no one was quite willing to take them down just yet. In the command room, standing at a large consul, was the leader of this rag-tag group. He was the Urban Legend known as Robin.  
  
"...how long has he been out?" he asked the dark figure on the monitor.  
  
"About a month now," the figure said, his masked face displaying a look of disdain and anxiety.  
  
"And he hasn't made any kind of movement yet? Sounds suspicious. You don't suppose he skipped town. It wouldn't be the FIRST time..."  
  
"Positive! Guards said that he was muttering something about unfinished business in Gotham. Part of his New Years Resolution."  
  
"Want me to head back to Gotham? I could just have Wonder Girl..."  
  
"No. Stay at your post. I'll handle this." His voice was firm, and made Robin shudder at the sound of it. But something in his voice caught his attention. And, despite his apprehension, he had one question on his mind.  
  
"Do you know what he has in mind?" Robin asked his partner. The shadow looked at him, his eyes piercing through to his soul.  
  
"I'll stay in touch," he said grimly. And, with that, the monitor went blank.  
  
"Was that who I think it is?" a gentle voice asked him. He turned to see Secret floating behind him, her eyes widened in shock. "Was that...the Batman?"  
  
"Afraid so, Suzie," he said, a grim frown on his face. His cape flowed behind him like a clinging shadow as he walked out of the room. "Where're the others?""  
  
"Well, Anita is with her dad today. Some family thing. Cassie is hanging with Cissie, and Impulse and Superboy...are...well..." She held her chin in deep thought.  
  
"Don't worry," Robin said, a smile creeping on his face. " They'll show up. They ALWAYS do."  
  
Meanwhile, playing a rousing game of pool, were the Lad of Lightning and the Boy of Tomorrow. Superboy was leaning over on his pool stick, while Impulse was lining up his shot.  
  
"...and so Dubblex said `Your thoughts are the ONLY thing that looks like this ham!'" Superboy nearly choked as he recited his holiday party. "I tell ya, Bart, you HAD to be there."  
  
"Now if I did THAT, Kon, Santa wouldn't have been able to get me my gifts." He made his shot, the white ball flying into the row, and, in a swift blur of multi color, each ball of both solid and striped color ricocheted and rolled into the pockets, leaving the eight ball alone, spinning like a top in the center of the table. Impulse turned, flashing a child-like smile at his dumbfounded companion.  
  
"...rrrriiiiigggggghhhhtttttt....." Superboy said in comment to Impulse's belief in Santa. He walked over and put his arm over his shoulder. "Umm...Impulse...there's something you should know about Santa...."  
  
************************************  
  
  
  
"So, do you plan on hanging around here during New Years?" Secret asked Robin as he poured himself a mug of coffee.  
  
"Nah. I'll be hanging with my family. It's one of the few times I've actually had the chance to spend the holiday with them. It'll be a nice change from the norm."  
  
"Oh." There was a look of disappointment on her face. "That's...nice."  
  
Robin noticed the expression on her face. He was about to make a comment of support, or maybe some form of explanation, when a large wail caught their attention.  
  
"LIAR!!!" Bart screamed as he burst into the command room. "Lies lies lies lies lies!!!"  
  
"C'mon, Imp!" Superboy insisted as he flew in behind. "You're taking this too seriously."  
  
"Robin, tell him that's he's a liar! Tell him that he's lying!" He tugged on his cape, tears streaming down his face.  
  
"What did you do, Kon?" Robin folded his arms and flashed a stern look towards Superboy.  
  
"Nothin'," he said, rubbing the back of his head. "I just...told him..that...well...that Santa didn't really exist."  
  
"LIAR!" Impulse said.  
  
"Who's Santa Claus?" Secret asked curiously.  
  
"Santa's a kind individual who lives on the North Pole and gives kids gifts during Christmas," Robin said.  
  
"And gives BAD kids coal!" Impulse said, sticking his tongue out at Superboy.  
  
"But how can he get all the kids in the world gifts in one night?" Superboy tried to reason.  
  
"I dunno," Impulse retorted. "Maybe he has super powers."  
  
"Then why does he need reindeer to fly?"  
  
"Maybe he wants company!"  
  
"This is ridiculous!" Robin said, holding his head in pain. "You two are incorrigible."  
  
Just then, the doorbell rang.  
  
"Now who could...?" Robin began to ask to himself.  
  
"I'LL GET IT!!!" Impulse said, completely forgetting about the conversation at hand. And, in a streak of crimson, he was at the door.  
  
"It BETTER not be another space ship," Superboy said. "How come HE gets all the cools stuff?"  
  
"I dunno," Robin said, smiling. "Maybe `Santa' likes him more than others."  
  
"Funny, Rob. VERY funny."  
  
In a blink of eye, Impulse was between them. In his hand he held a medium-sized package.  
  
"What is it?" Robin asked.  
  
"I dunno," he said. "It's for you."  
  
"For ME?!?" he asked in surprise. He read the note attached to it  
  
`To: Robin, The Boy Wonder'  
  
"Who's it from?" Secret asked, peaking over his shoulder.  
  
"I don't know. It's just marked with a smiley face."  
  
He opened the package. Inside was a dark mask, attached to a lavender hood. On it, etched in blood, was a smiley face.  
  
Robin dropped his mug of coffee. It shattered on the ground, echoing throughout the entire room. All the color drained from his face, as he clasped the mask tightly in his hands, straining at its seams.  
  
"Wha...what is it?" Secret asked. Robin was silent, a tear starting to swell under his eyelids, as he stared blankly at the mask.  
  
"Spoiler," he whispered to himself. His eyes widened, as he examined the box which it came in, his deductive mind kicking into high gear.  
  
"What's wrong, Rob?" Superboy asked, concerned. "What's so important about the mask?"  
  
He said nothing. Throwing the box aside, he ran towards the hanger area.  
  
"What's up with him?" Impulse asked, head cocked in confusion.  
  
"I don't know, Imp," he said. "But I'm gonna find out." He flew towards the hanger. Impulse and Secret followed behind.  
  
They reached the hanger, but not before Robin could speed away in his Redbird.  
  
"I'll catch him," Impulse said. He sprinted off towards their leaders sleek sports vehicle.  
  
The Lad of Lightning caught up with him in no time, and was running right beside his vehicle.  
  
"Hey, Rob!" he cupped his hands and yelled. "Where's the fire? Hey, Rob, can you hear me?"  
  
He made no effort to respond. Instead, his fingers fluttered over the control panel. A strange nozzle popped out the side of the car.  
  
"Uh...Rob?" Impulse cocked his eye. A white goo spewed out of the nozzle, coating Impulse from toe to neck. It dried quickly, and began to stretch as he ran beside him.  
  
"That wasn't cool, Rob!" he said. "Do you know how hard it is to clean this stupid..." The white goo reached its stretching point, snapping Impulse back like a slingshot before he could finish the sentence.  
  
Meanwhile, right behind, in the Super Cycle, Superboy and Secret raced to catch up to their teammate.  
  
"I can't believe the Super Cycle's letting you drive, Kon," Secret noted as Superboy worked the controls.  
  
"Maybe it senses something's wrong, too, Suzie," he said seriously. "I contacted the others. I don't know how to call Batman, but..." He was cut off by a screaming streak of crimson.  
  
"HHHHHHHEEEEEEEEEEELLLLLLLLPPPPPPPPP!!!!!!!!" The blur screamed as it flew past.  
  
Secret and Superboy both looked at each other. "Impulse?!?" they said in unison. With a sharp twist of the wheel, the Super Cycle turned around and chased after their partner.  
  
Meanwhile, Robin, in his Redbird, rocketed towards Gotham.  
  
Impulse screamed as the world flew past his eyes. He tried to slow himself down, but his legs were bound tightly by the goo. He tried to vibrate out, but it was too stretchy, and thus prevented him from doing so.  
  
The rubber began to stretch again, as his motion slowed.  
  
"Whew!" he said. "Finally." Unfortunately for him, he began to accelerate again, only this time in the opposite direction. It was like something out of a cartoon, he suddenly realized. And who knew how long he'd be like this.  
  
"This is re-FRIKIN'-diculous!!!" he screamed as he bounced back. He noticed something fly up beside him. It was the Super Cycle, driven by Secret and Superboy.  
  
"Hey there, Imp," Superboy said jokingly. "Looks like you've gotten yourself in quite a sticky situation."  
  
"Har har har," he said in a deadpan manner. "NOW GET ME OUT OF HERE!!!"  
  
"Alright. Now...which button works the laser?" He fumbled over the controls. "Ah, here it is!" He pressed a large red button. A cannon popped out of the hood and aimed right at Impulse.  
  
"Uh...Kon," Secret interjected. "You DO know how to work one of those...right?"  
  
"I've seen Rob do it THOUSANDS of times. It can't be that hard." He pushed the button, and a large blue beam shot out, ripping through the goo, inches from Impulse's face. The energy was enough to singe the young speedster's face, an image of his head getting blown off passing through his thought bubble.  
  
"See. Not THAT hard." He then maneuvered the Cycle in front of Impulse, catching him in the front passenger seat.  
  
"That BETTER not stick to the upholstery," Superboy joked as they flew back to the base.  
  
"Wait, isn't Robin going THAT way?" Secret pointed out.  
  
"Forget it, Secret," he said, frustrated. "Robin's a big boy. And it's obvious he doesn't want US around." He motioned to Impulse, who was stretching the white goo, trying to free himself from its sticky grasp.  
  
"But...what it he needs our help?"  
  
"He knows how to get a hold of us. Besides, how bad could it possibly be?"  
  
***********************************  
  
Not a star was to be seen in the night sky, but the city was a bustle. The general populace was apprehensive, as the fact that Gotham's most notorious madman was free and running about. And the fact that he could be amongst THEM made them paranoid. VERY paranoid.  
  
Only one among them was daring enough to go searching for him willfully. That singular entity was the Urban Legend himself. His Redbird rocketed through the streets, evading each red light and maneuvering between each obstacle.  
  
It finally pulled in front of a large factory. Robin leapt from the car and proceeded towards the building.  
  
The factory loomed over him. Its shadows, like extending talons, seemed to pull our hero inside. Knowing what he had to do, though, he willingly entered its menacing claws.  
  
Like a silent whisper, Robin crept through the factory, letting those ominous shadows envelop him. They were his armor in enemy territory. But even the mightiest armor would not be enough against the adversary he faced. He held his cape close to him, letting it shield his features. He suspected a trap, but had no choice. Not if he was to save the woman he loved dear.  
  
He crept past each door, listening for any sound, ever so faint, any hope whatsoever.  
  
A soft moan caught his attention. It was definitely female, and was assuredly in pain. He rushed as quietly as he could over to the large door. He put his ear against the door. Heavy breathing was on the other side of the door, and the sound of something hanging. But he heard nothing else.  
  
A large chain and lock barred the door, but Robin easily picked it. Carefully, expecting a trap door of sorts, he strode in.  
  
There, hanging tied from the ceiling, was Spoiler. A bag covered her face, and her costume was in tatters. She moaned in pain, barely able to struggle.  
  
"Spoiler?" he whispered to her. She began to move slightly in response to his voice.  
  
"R...Robin?" she responded weakly.  
  
"Shhh...don't speak," he said, pulling out a batarang. "I'll get you out." With a flick of his wrist, he threw the batarang at the rope, cutting it. Spoiler fell down swiftly, but Robin was there to catch her.  
  
"Can you walk?" he asked. She nodded, and he set her down to her feet. He began to pull the bag off her head, when the sound of a camera flash behind him caught his attention.  
  
"Awww...isn't this a Kodak moment," a pale figure said, holding a camera in his hand. "This'll go GREAT in the album." Behind him, clad in a purple dress outfit, was a lanky man. His skin was as pale as a ghost, and hair unnaturally green. He grinned a toothy grin, like a pirana. Yellow film coated his teeth, offsetting the pure white of his face.  
  
"Joker!" Robin's voice hissed.  
  
The Clown Prince of Crime laughed. "That's what it says on my arrest warrant. He hee!"  
  
Robin began to reach for something from his utility belt.  
  
"I don't THINK so, Boy Blunder!" a familiar voice cackled behind him. He turned, as Spoiler removed the bag on her face. Only it wasn't Spoiler, it was Harley Quinn. She smiled the smile of a naughty child taking pleasure in torturing a small bird. She held in her hand a gas gun, pointed at Robin's head.  
  
Joker snapped another picture with his camera. "WoHOOO! You should've SEEN the expression on your face! TIMELESS!!!" His laughter screeched throughout the factory.  
  
He walked closer to him, putting his arm around Robin's shoulder. "I'm glad you got our little invitation. Now, won't you stick around for a while?"  
  
"Thanks, but I'm leaving once I get Spoiler. Now, WHERE is she?"  
  
"Tsk tsk tsk," Joker said, moving away from Robin. "So narrow-minded. Just like the last two. I wonder, do you bleed like the other two?"  
  
He reached into his jacket, and whipped out a sterling silver pistol.  
  
"Say goodnight, Grace," he laughed maniacally, and squeezed the trigger.  
  
Robin's world went completely black..... 


	2. Chapter 2

His head felt as though thousands of jack hammers were working on the inside of his brain as he slipped in and out of consciousness. The world seemed to swirl in front of his vision, and a burning sensations coursed through his right arm. He tired to gain a sense of where he was, when he was, and what he was doing there. He knew something happened, that he had gotten careless.  
  
His vision began to return to him. At first everything was a hazy blur, but it soon began to piece itself together as he cleared the cobwebs from his throbbing mind. He heard voices around him. Vaguely familiar voices. Where they friendly, he thought. His vision had pretty much been fully returned to him, but the world seemed to be upside down. No, he thought. The world wasn't upside down. HE was!  
  
"Oh Puddin'!" A familiar voice, New Jersey-accent, squealed. "I think our little birdie is awake."  
  
"Oh, good. I would hate for him to bite the big one. At least, not until I got done taking a few bites myself. Hehehehahaha!!" The laughter caught his utmost attention, as his memory came flooding back to him. He was Robin, the other half of the Dynamic Duo. And he was in a WHOLE lot of trouble.  
  
The Joker bounded into the room, smile wide from ear to ear. He wore his standard lavender suit, boutique on his lapel and all. His hair, an unnatural green, bounced as he bobbed his head back and forth, nodding to the tune of a song that played only in his head, as he sauntered over to Robin.  
  
"How's it hanging, Rob-Oh?" the Joker mocked, pinching Robin's cheeks between his boney fingers.  
  
Robin tried to move, but he was firmly bound and gagged. Joker's smile widened, his off-white teeth dripping with his saliva. He was getting extreme satisfaction from this show. Robin tried to speak, but the gag only muffled his words.  
  
"Oh, look Harl: Our little parrot is trying to speak." Harley Quinn giggled in delight, taking her cue from Joker.  
  
"Aww...birdie wanna cracker?" She asked as she stuffed a handful of stale crackers in his face.  
  
"Awww...what's the matter, kid? Not in the New Years spirit? Then again, you super-types were never very fun at all. But don't worry, Uncle Joker's gonna fix that. Just you see. "  
  
Robin struggled, and finally managed to work his gag off. "Your sick, Joker," he spat out. "Worse yet, you're not even funny." He became shockingly aware that his mouth was working without any cue from his brain.  
  
Joker just stared at him, his eye twitching with anger. He reeled back, as if ready to punch, but stopped and, laughing, rubbed Robin's head.  
  
"Oh, your just a kid. You could never understand the intricate workings of adult humor. In fact, I don't think you're even old enough to shave." He rubbed his hands coarsely against Robin's cheeks. "Actually, I think I can feel a little bit of stubble there." He walked away for a second, then came back, holding in his hand a shiny, new shaving razor. "I think we'll give ol' junior here the barber shop special. After all, the sooner you shave, the thicker it'll come in. Heheheeee!!!"  
  
****************  
  
  
  
The team collectively known as Young Justice did what they could to get into the New Year spirit. Despite heavy-set objections on part of Impulse, the group began replacing the Christmas decorations with New Years. Superboy fixed a disco globe up in place of one of the chandleries. Wonder Girl hung banners above the door posts, while Secret accompanied Anita, who was trying, rather unsuccessfully, to explain the purpose of New Years. Red Tornado had the more arduous task of connecting a cable wire to the large computer monitor. His daughter, Traya, provided much needed technical assistance however, although Red Tornado felt somewhat embarrassed at the fact that his daughter, barely old enough to attend school, was teaching HIM about electronics. Lobo was nowhere to be found, and frankly no one seemed to care. However, the sudden absence of their leader, Robin, was slightly disturbing. But this wasn't the first time he pulled a disappearing act on them, so none were too concerned.  
  
"Traya, will you pass me the...uh....thingy....there...."  
  
"You mean the monkey wrench, dad?" Traya asked, handing him the tool he was mentioning.  
  
"Uh....yeah, that's it honey," he said sheepishly, taking it from her hand and disappearing back behind the monitor. "Uh...I don't think you really need that, dad? Maybe you should use...."  
  
"I know what I'm doing, Hon. I am, after all, a machine. And thus I should have a pretty good...." The sudden jolt of electricity, followed closely by the faint aroma of ozone and seared metal silenced his objections.  
  
"Okay, YOU get back here, and I'LL hand the tools," he said, slinking out from behind the computer, upper torso singed black. Traya could barely hold back the laughter.  
  
"No, Secret," Anita said frustrated. "New Years EVE is on the last day before the ACTUAL New Years!"  
  
"So why are we celebrating the New Years at the end of the old year? Shouldn't it be called Old Years Day?" Secret said as she floated right behind the newest addition to the team.  
  
Anita held her fingers between her eyes, massaging the bridge of her nose. "Ugh, never mind. Forget it."  
  
"Forget what?" Impulse said, hands full of Christmas decorations. A small Santa fell from his arms as he streaked to a halt between the two ladies.  
  
"Nothing..." Anita said.  
  
"Anita was just explaining how we celebrate the New Year by having a party at the end of the old one," Secret said.  
  
"Yeah, I never could understand that one," Impulse said understandingly. "And that whole `Leap Year' thing. What's the point of having an extra day if it's only going to come along every four years. I mean, you don't even get any presents for it or anything..." Anita grunted in aggravation and walked off.  
  
"What? What did I say?" Impulse asked Secret, who could only shrug.  
  
"Wow! Things are starting to look pretty good here, guys," a familiar voice called to them. The team turned to see their former teammate standing in all her Olympic glory.  
  
"CISSIE!!!" Cassie called, dropping her decorations, which fell on an unsuspecting Impulse below, who could only wonder who turned the lights off.  
  
Wonder Girl embraced her friend with a flying hug, while the others (save Impulse) calmly strode over to great her.  
  
"What brings you here?" Superboy asked as he floated down for a landing right next to her. She had a smirk on her face and a large gym bag over her shoulder. She wore tight jean pants and a white Olympic t-shirt. Her hair was done in a tight pigtail, which hung loosely over her right shoulder.  
  
"Well, since I didn't get a chance to do it sooner, what with all the chaos of having an agent and all this publicity junk, I decided to bring you guys some belated Christmas gifts."  
  
"Presents???" Impulse said, appearing, seemingly out of nowhere, right behind Cissie's left shoulder. "Whatchagetmewhatchagetmewhatchaget???"  
  
"Calm down, spaz," she said. "I'll get to ya." She put the bag down carefully, and unzipping, slowly pulled out neatly wrapped gifts, each of varying shapes and sizes.  
  
"Okay, this one's for you, Kon. And here's for you, Red. And Anita, and Cassie, and..." She wasn't even finished handing out gifts when her greedy friends tore into the packaging like pirana at a fresh kill.  
  
"Alright! 'Wrestlemania 15'!!!" Kon said, his eyes wide with joy. "The only one I've been missing in my collection!"  
  
"EEEEEKKKK!!!" Cassie said, leaping with excitement. "An autographed `OnKey' album; Bruises on My Face!"  
  
Impulse had a look of confusion as he opened his gift. "`1001 Ways to Stay Calm'? That's the FOURTH one I've got!"  
  
"Ah mon, you shouldn't have!" Anita said as she held up an VERY expensive Armani skirt with matching shoes.  
  
"Haha....very funny," Red Tornado said as he held up a copy of the Disney classic `Pinnochio'.  
  
"Oops...sorry Red. That one's meant for Traya. I guess I got yours mixed up."  
  
"I would hope so," Traya said, holding up a VERY large copy of `Leaves of Grass' by Herman Melville. "I don't think I could read this all in my lifetime."  
  
"Where's my gift?" Secret asked in anticipation.  
  
"Well, I didn't know what to get you Secret," Cissie said as the rest of the team quickly gathered behind her, smiles wide on their faces. "So I....uh..WE had this made special for you." She pulled out from her bag a medium sized picture frame, neatly ornate with carvings of birds and flowers. Inside was a picture of the group, which was taken candidly unbeknownst to her. On it was inscribed the names of all her teammates, and in the corner was written; "Merry Christmas, Secret. Love, Young Justice."  
  
Secret held the picture close to her chest, tears streaming down her face while the group crowded around her, smiles of cheer on their faces at the sight of her reaction.  
  
"You...you guys are the best," she said, a weak smile running from ear to ear. They all embraced, unifying for one big group hug.  
  
"Aw, geeze. I'm not even back for ten seconds and you losers are already getting mushy," a ruffled voice spoke behind them. They turned to see that there mood was broken by none other than The Top Teen, `Lil Lobo.  
  
"Ah, just the alien I was hoping NOT to see," Cassie said sarcastically.  
  
"Good to see ya too, hot pants," he retorted.  
  
"Here," she said, handing him a small box. "Merry Christmas."  
  
"Fer me? Ya should have. Y'know, you're not so..."he paused as he unwrapped his gift. "Deodorant?"  
  
"Yeah, I figured you could use some, since obviously you space types've never heard of bathing."  
  
"Har har frikin' har!" he said, tossing the bar aside. "So, where's that other loser that hangs wit ya?"  
  
"Oh, Robin?" Cissie said. "Yeah, I was about to ask where he was. I still have his present to give. Uh...where is he guys?"  
  
"We dunno," Superboy said, shrugging. "He took off yesterday rather suddenly. Ask Bart what he did."  
  
"Bart, what'd he do?" Cissie asked.  
  
"His car slimed me with crazy glue," he said, obviously upset over the ordeal.  
  
"Hpf. And none of you went to find out what was up?" She asked.  
  
"Well...he did seem pretty bent up," Cassie said. "But he made it VERY clear that he didn't want to be followed.  
  
"Has anyone bothered to ask Batman where he was?" They all looked away, as if to suggest that no, in fact, they had NOT thought of that.  
  
"Didn't think so." She strode over to the computer consul, instantly noticing what a mess it was. "Bart, did you try to hook up your Dream Blast to this thing again?"  
  
"Not me this time. Blame it on Red Tornado and Traya."  
  
"We were trying to hook up a new cable wire to the monitor so that we could watch the festivities from here. I thought it'd be more...fun," Tornado said, somewhat sheepishly.  
  
"That sounds cool." She fumbled her fingers through some of the wiring. "Now, you DID plan on having this done by THIS New Year, right?"  
  
"Don't worry Ciss," Traya said. "I'm helping out."  
  
"That's better," she said, rubbing her roommates head. "So, no one has any idea where he might have gone? I'd really like to give him his gift."  
  
"Well," Secret said. "He DID say he was going to be spending New Years with his family. Maybe he went there."  
  
"Yeah, but if it WAS for family, why the suddenness?" Anita asked. "Why the apparent urgency."  
  
"And why'd he have to splat me with that white goo?" Impulse added.  
  
"Whoa whoa, time out!" Lobo said. "Yer all so fraggin' worried that The Boy Chump decided he was too cool for ya losers and split? Heck, I'd just go over to Gotham City and give him a piece of my mind, my fist, and my boot!"  
  
"That's not how we do things, Lobo," Cassie said, obviously irked. "But I say we SHOULD go to Gotham, at least to see if he's there."  
  
"Sounds like a good idea," Traya chimed in, smiling a childish smile. "Daddy, can I go too?"  
  
"That won't be necessary," a voice said from the shadows. "He's not in Gotham." The group all turned on their heels.  
  
"Say, is it just me, or did it turn night all of a sudden?" Superboy said, noting the sudden onset of dankness.  
  
"BATMAN!"The group exclaimed. The figure lurched out of the shadows like Satan from the doors of Hell, yet seemed umbilically connected to the shadows he came from. His eyes pierced them each like extended knives, and his face held the firm expression of one who had come from a funeral; bitter. There was not a single one who did not shudder in abject terror at the sight. Not Empress. Not Red Tornado. Not even Lobo.  
  
"I have come in search of Robin. Why isn't he here?"  
  
"Hey, you should know that," Superboy mustered the courage to say. "I thought you Bat-types always kept track of each other. And, for that part, what gives you the right to barge in here. Why didn't you just call?"  
  
"I tried. Your connections were down."  
  
"Oh, yeah, that." Superboy moved back, clearly embarrassed.  
  
"I will ask this once, and I expect a response, because the answer might mean the difference between his life and his death," Batman said, his voice full of venom and fueled with urgency. "WHERE...IS...ROBIN?"  
  
***************************************  
  
  
  
The soft creaking sounded like a thundering echo in his ears as he rocked back and forth, hanging upside down like a piece of meat. His face felt the pain of a thousand nails tearing into his flesh. But as the blood streamed down his face, and as his soft tears of pain worked inside the large chunks of flesh that barely hung from his cheeks and jaws, their salty wetness stinging even worse, Robin knew that this was the greatest pain he had ever felt.  
  
And it was just beginning....... 


	3. Chapter 3

The members of Young Justice stood outside their complex, each one motionless as statues. Before them stood Batman, Dark Knight of legend, whose dark, cowled visage struck fear into the hearts of both criminals and heroes alike. The night wind blew softly, like the darkness was trying to whisper something that went unheard. The wilderness around them cried in languages unrecognizable, and the stars twinkled with the life of the billions and billions of planets that circled them. But the silence was there, with them, like a void. Like the silence of a graveyard.  
  
"Where is ROBIN?!?" Batman again said, his voice making his question seem more like a command. None of them spoke, afraid of what there ignorance as to his whereabouts would ignite in the Bat.  
  
Finally, Impulse, the more daring of them all, spoke. "He was heading off into Gotham City. At least, that's the direction he was heading when I last tried to chase him down."  
  
Batman strode forward, looming over the Lad of Lightning. "WHY did he go to Gotham City?"  
  
"We don't know!" Cissie said, trying to speak up in her teammate's defense. "They say he just took off.  
  
"People don't just `take off'!" Batman shot back. "I told him to stick around here. He didn't. I want to know why. What happened yesterday? Why did he leave? Where is he now?" He shot off questions randomly, fully knowing that no one would answer them, but meaning to get a point across.  
  
"He got some weird thing yesterday," Superboy said.  
  
"What weird thing?" Batman said, almost on top of the Boy of Tomorrow.  
  
"This thing," Impulse said, disappearing and reappearing instantly. He held in his hand a piece of lavender cloth. The very cloth that Robin was given yesterday.  
  
"Imp, where did you find that?" Secret asked.  
  
"In the hanger. He must have dropped it when he took off in his car." Impulse moved close to Batman. "Do you know what it is? What it means?"  
  
Batman held up the mask, extending it between his fingers as he held it in the air. He stared grimly at the image of a smiley face, etched in human blood, on the face of the mask.  
  
"Joker," he said darkly, his eyes narrowing to slits.  
  
"WHOA!" Impulse said, jumping back. "It can't be!"  
  
"How can you tell?" Traya asked, confused.  
  
"It's his style," he said, thrusting the mask into an empty compartment in his utility belt. He began to walk away, when he stopped suddenly. His shoulders, for a moment, tensed, then slumped, revealing a more human side to the Batman that none of them had ever seen. They saw truly the weight which he bore on his back. And as he turned to them, for one brief moment, they saw not a dark creature of the night, or a purveyor of justice.  
  
They saw a man.  
  
"I need your help," he said silently. "You say he's in Gotham City. I know it like the back of my hand. Given time, I could find him on my own. But time is something we do not have. It's a couple days until New Years. And if we don't find The Joker by then, Robin, as well as countless millions, will be dead." He paused, then, his head held low and to the side, he spoke silently once more. "I've already lost two Robin's to that madman. I couldn't bear to lose a third."  
  
The group stood silent for a moment, taken aback at the whole candor of the situation, as well as Batman's sudden humanity. The sound of a pin drop would have been like the thundering of elephant feet there. After what seemed like an eternity's worth of deafness, Lil' Lobo was the first to speak.  
  
"Aw, what the frag," he said, a Calvin-esque smile breaking across his face. "Sounds like fun. Just as long as I can rip this Joker guy a new one, ya can count the Top Teen in!"  
  
"Me too!" Secret said, flying beside Lobo and Batman. "Robin's always been there for me in the past. Now it's my turn to be there for him."  
  
The rest of the group; Tornado, Superboy, Wonder Girl, Empress, Cissie, Impulse, and Traya, simply stood there, still unable to take it all in. Finally Red Tornado, with Traya holding his hand tightly, walked up to the Dark Knight and, slowly, extended his hand.  
  
"I think I speak for the rest of the group when I say you have our full support." Batman took his hand and, in a thankful manner, shook it. And, for one brief moment, the group could see Batman smile. A weak, beaten smile, but a smile nonetheless.  
  
But, as soon as it came, the moment was gone, and Batman was back to his stout, cold-hearted self.  
  
"Follow me back to Gotham," he commanded. "We'll formulate a plan once there."  
  
"Alright!" Lobo said. "Action time! By the way, who is this Joker chump?"  
  
"Trust me," Impulse said, "you don't wanna know."  
  
"I'm going to drop Traya off with her mother," Tornado said. "I'll meet you there." And, with his adoptive daughter in his arms, he flew off into the air.  
  
The rest of the group made there way to the hanger to follow suit in the Super Cycle, when Wonder Girl looked back to see Cissie just standing there, not following.  
  
"You commin' Ciss?" Wonder Girl asked. Cissie looked down, away from her friend, and for a brief minute contemplated joining her comrades in the hunt for their missing leader, and the only one who stood behind her in her decision to leave the group. The one person who understood what it's like to want to be normal again.  
  
"No, you go on ahead," she said silently, ashamedly. "It's not my place. Not anymore." She turned her back to her friend, who looked as though she wanted to speak up, to argue the point. But time, as Batman said, was of the essence. So, with the thoughts of her friend seemingly abandoning them, she flew off to join the rest of the group.  
  
The former Arrowette slumped down on the steps, just outside the doors of their base. In the sky she could hear the sounds of the Super Cycle taking flight, and in the distance hear the deep rumblings of the Batmobile's engines. As she sat there, the silence of the night creeping around her, she suddenly noticed that she still held in her right hand Robin's gift, still wrapped in its package, just waiting to be opened by him.  
  
She buried her head between her hands, and began to sob.  
  
**********************************************  
  
  
  
Five days before New Years:  
  
Robin could feel the rising and setting of the sun around him, the markage of time's passage, even though he was surrounded by perpetual darkness. He chuckled a bit at that though, although he did not know HOW he could be finding anything funny at a time like this. Stress will do that to you, he guessed.  
  
His face was swelled. The bleeding had ceased long ago. The crimson was dried over his skin, itching and crackling as he worked his jaw around, and worked his gag off. He could feel that the blood had streamed down his hair, too. It was all stiff, and the stench overwhelmed his nostrils, which were covered with the putrid stuff. Scabs had finally formed around the chunks of skin that were harshly torn away by the Joker. He grimaced as he recalled each swipe of the blade, each tear of his flesh from his face. He would be scarred for life, he knew that. Not even the best plastic surgeons Bruce's money could buy could fix this kind of damage.  
  
He tried to work the binds that held his hands firm behind him, tried to wiggle his feet, to gain some leverage to free himself. To find Spoiler. But he suddenly felt very tired and oh so weak.  
  
He finally noticed he was hungry.  
  
Sweat began to form off his brow, moistening the blood caked on his forehead. So tired, so very tired.  
  
His body swayed back and forth in his dark prison. His body was sore from all the blood that had been rushing up to his head. His muscles ached from inactivity, and his wrists and ankles chafed from the lining of the ropes. He tried to imagine ways of getting out, of freeing himself. The sounds of his sweat dropping to the cold concrete below him resounded like buckets of water being dropped around his ears. He could faintly make out the soft stench of mold, could hear the creaking of the beam which his rope was tied around. His eyes tried to adjust to the dark around them, but were so tired. He was so tired.  
  
How long had it been? He couldn't be THAT disoriented. Couldn't be. But the soft smell of mold was getting to him. And it was so hot.  
  
He heard something sudden. The sound of footsteps. Coming closer. He instinctively reached for his utility belt, but suddenly realized that, with his hands bound so tightly, he couldn't get to it. Not that it mattered: The Joker had removed it a long time ago.  
  
A door creaked, and a burst of light pierced his retina. Grimacing, he reeled back from the brightness. He could make out the dark silhouette of a female, carrying a tray of food. She jingled as she walked, and whistled a bouncy song, which sounded almost like a carrousel song.  
  
"Har...Harlequin?" he said weakly.  
  
"Yeah, it's me," she said quietly. "Mr. Jay stepped out for a bit, so I figured you might like some food. Are ya hungry?"  
  
Robin nodded. So, carefully, she began to feed him a piece of homemade bread. He bit into it slowly, expecting glass pieces or a razor, but was happily surprised to find it had none of those qualities. And he knew it wouldn't have poison. The Joker wanted to torture him first, that he knew for sure.  
  
"Boy, you are hungry, aren't ya?" she said as she noticed him greedily scarf down the bread. He choked down his first mouthful, finding it hard to swallow, seeing as how he had to eat upside down.  
  
"Whatsa matter?" she asked, seemingly concerned.  
  
"Let me down," he said, gasping for breath.  
  
"But...but I can't," she stammered. "Puddin'..."  
  
"I can't eat upside down. Please." He pleaded with her. "Please. I swear I won't attack you."  
  
"You promise?" she said. Robin nodded, and so she complied. He couldn't see where she disappeared to, and nearly expected her to tease him by dropping him into his plate of food, then hoisting him back up. But the sudden sensation of being lowered SLOWLY to the ground dissuaded any thoughts of her being so vicious.  
  
"Better?" she asked. He nodded, and she began feeding him again.  
  
This was the first time Robin had been this close to her, without her trying to kill him, of course. He could finally see the subtle contours of her face. The innocent way of smiling she had when she saw him enjoying the food she had made. Even the odd way of giggling, even if it did have a slight hint of menace to it. He began to wonder what she must have been like, before Joker twisted and rotted her psyche until it matched his own. In her eyes he thought he could see a trapped child, screaming to get out, for the pain to stop.  
  
"Boy, you musta liked my meal," she said, smiling. Robin nodded, allowing a slight smile across his face. She laughed a bit. "I didn't think you Bat types ever smiled." Her face grew sad, though, as she stared at his face.  
  
"What's wrong?" Robin asked, trying to be helpful despite the surroundings.  
  
"I'm...sorry, for the way Mr. Jay roughed you up yesterday. He means well, it's just...." her voice, as well as her mind, seemed to trail off to wherever it goes to when she tried to forget the pain Joker had caused her.  
  
"He's a lunatic, Harl," Robin said. "He doesn't care for anyone but himself."  
  
"LIES!" she screamed. "He cares for me! He even said so!"  
  
"When?" He asked. She didn't answer, opting to turn away.  
  
"Look, Harley," he pleaded. "Look at me. Just look at me." She stayed where she was for a moment, then reluctantly turned to face him. She saw his face, torn apart like raw hamburger, his hair mangled and stained with blood and sweat. His cheeks were awash with his tears of pain and anguish, and his skin, or what was not mauled beyond recognition, was soiled and pale. A tear began to form under her eyes.  
  
"Look what he did to me. Look how he treats you. Look how he treats others. All he cares about is his own enjoyment. He only keeps you around because you're his toy, and he likes to play with you. But once he's done, he'll finish you off. Just like he'll finish me off." She tore away from him, beginning to sob. He got to his feet, and hobbled over to her, slowly so as not to startle her away.  
  
`So much pain, so much torment. My God, how he must mistreat her.'  
  
"Listen, Harley," he said, gently turning her towards him with his bound hands. "I need to find Spoiler. I need to get her out of here. Will you help me?"  
  
She looked at him, deep into his eyes. For a moment, he thought she was looking through his mask to see the face that lie underneath. For a moment he thought he had gotten through to her.  
  
"NO!" she screamed, and, reeling back, struck hard with the metal food tray. Robin yelped in pain, the cold metal aggravating every wound on his face. He fell to the cold hard ground, and could barely see Harleyquinn rush off, sobbing in disbelief, a lost soul never to be found.  
  
The smell of mold rushed in his nose, then the darkness reclaimed him.  
  
*******************************************  
  
  
  
For a moment he thought he was still hanging upside down. But as he slowly came to, he realized that the throbbing in his head was because a piece of metal had been bent against his skull. He slowly rose to his feet, his hands braced up against the concrete floor. He coughed, and a tooth came out.  
  
"Great," he said. "Just great." He rose up and began to brush himself off, when he noticed something odd. He was no longer untied. Across the room, draped over a folding chair, was his utility belt. On it was attached a note. It read as such:  
  
Robin, She's on the roof. This is all I can do to help you.  
  
H.Q.  
  
"Thank you Harley," Robin whispered as he clipped his belt around his waist. He touched the door, and it creaked open a bit. Unlocked. Good. He HAD gotten through to her.  
  
He made his way as fast as he could, trying as hard as possible not to make any noise. The steps were many, and the weakness in his legs made it feel like he was carrying bags of lead up the stairs with him.  
  
He made his way to the door and, carefully, opened it up. The sudden rush of free air excited his skin. It was cold, and burned against his sore wounds. But he did not care. For a brief second, he forgot what he had come upstairs to do. But, ahead of him, tied firmly to a post near the building's edge, was Spoiler. She was in her costume, which was tattered and torn, and stained deeply with crimson. He looked carefully, wary of another trap. But her blond hair, sifting gently in the wind, relieved him. It was her, on that there was no doubt.  
  
He made his way over to her quickly, making sure that there was no way it could be a trap, but urgently trying to reach the woman he cared for. The woman he loved.  
  
He had long kept his identity from her, he thought to himself. As he quickly ran to her, the thoughts of how greedy he had been, keeping the biggest part of himself from her, echoed through his head. But as he approached her, he made an appoint to change all that. To be more open to her. To care for her more. To show her that he loved her. He would hide nothing from her anymore. There would no longer be any secrets.  
  
"Steph, I'm here to get you out," he said. He walked around to face her, to look her once again in the eyes and tell her it would be alright.  
  
Her eyes were gone. In their place were empty sockets where the birds had pecked them out. Her face was pale, white as the snow and covered in frost. Her lips were cracked, and a small trickle of blood was frozen at the side of her mouth. Her head hung slightly to the left, her hair no longer like a blanket of gold, but like matted straw. And her face. Oh God, her face. Her face was stretched, the skin inhumanly pulled from the bone. And she was smiling. A hideous, pale lipped, wide-toothed smile clear from ear to ear. The smile of a corpse.  
  
Robin tried to scream, but could not find the breath to. The wind howled around him, like the wail of a banshee. He began to panic, fumbling his way away from her, away from her dead smile. Tears rolled down his cheeks as he rocked back and forth in front of the motionless body of the love of his life. Alive no more. He tried to speak, to say something, but the tears got in the way. He grief overwhelmed him, like the world had caved in around him.  
  
In the background of his beating heart, against his throbbing head, he could hear someone chuckling. The chuckling steadily grew to a slight laugh. But then it roared into an inhuman belly laugh, screeching like nails against a chalkboard though his ears.  
  
Out from the door walked the Joker. He, too, was grinning the smile of a corpse. But, unlike Steph, he was a walking corpse, no longer alive to the pain and suffering of people. No. He was a walking vampire, sucking the life from anyone and everyone just to sate his ghastly sense of humor.  
  
Beside him, arm and arm, stood Harlequin, cooing like a child. She had played him. They had both played him like a cheep fiddle. And he knew they weren't finished playing.  
  
He wheeled around, and began to leap off the building's edge, hoping to escape to freedom.  
  
"I don't think so, Birdie!" Harlequin said, as she pressed a small button. In mid air Robin could feel a surge of electricity course through his body.  
  
Seven seconds before he hit the ground, he knew his belt had been rigged.  
  
Five seconds before he hit the ground, he realized that Steph had been dead LONG before he had come looking for her.  
  
Three seconds before he hit the ground, he knew that he wasn't going to be able to escape from this one.  
  
One second before he hit the ground, he thought he could feel Joker's hot breath against the back of his neck, laughing at him.  
  
As he hit the cold pavement below him, his ribs cracking and his body going limp, he could see Steph's beautiful smile, as he had always known it.  
  
He would never see that same smile again.... 


	4. Chapter 4

Gotham City: The Midnight Kingdom. It's dark allure stretched out like a withered hand, both welcoming and mocking at the same time. Each shadow had a soul, each tower a life of its own. It was if a giant vine had sprouted from the ground, entwined itself around the spirit of goodness and decency that had once shone through, and died, for all that was left anymore was black decay. The absence of all hope..  
  
The roar of the engines could be heard for miles on either side of the city, betraying his stealth, his secrecy. But he did not care. With hands wrenched around his steering column and sweat pouring from his brow, the Batman rocked through the city like a bullet from Hell. He could feel the column quiver as he pushed the Batmobile to its limits. But time was of the essence. Robin...Tim...was missing, in the clutches of a madman. A madman with no remorse, no reason, other than the fulfillment of his own sick humors. A madman known as The Joker.  
  
He glanced back, and out of the corner of his eye he could see them, flying in formation. He didn't realize how quickly they'd keep catch up to him. He spared himself a moment to marvel at how their vehicle could defy both the laws of gravity and of conventional logic. Briefly he envied Tim, how he got a chance to sail through the air on a device that toyed with physics on a whispering whim.  
  
He was taking a risk doing this. A BIG risk. He was allowing group of rogues into his city, into his closet of secrets. But secrets were something of little importance at this moment. He needed them, almost as much as they needed him. He bit down hard, a deep growl of frustration reverberating through him, and let his foot slam the floor, the Batmobile surging forward at blinding speeds.  
  
"Dammit, Tim!" he swore in whispered tones. "You were supposed to be the sensible one!"  
  
************  
  
The team collectively known as Young Justice had been sitting in a somber silence since they had left their base of operations, each sitting in their prospective places. Wonder Girl and Secret sat in the back with Superboy, while Impulse took lookout at the front. Fitting, really, since he was usually the one to leap into things first. Following closely were Lil' Lobo and Anita. Lobo was riding his "hog"; a sentient motor cycle, similar to the Super Cycle, both hideous in nature and obedient to its master. Clinging tightly to his waste was Anita, better known as Empress. His cycle wove in and out around theirs, following the basic flight path that the rest of the team was. This was the standard, status quo of things.  
  
But one thing was not status quo; the absence of their leader. Red Tornado was at the controls of the Super Cycle, a rarity indeed, for he almost never joined the team on its missions. Almost always it was Robin who was at the controls, and no one else.  
  
But Robin was not with them. Not this time.  
  
The team was, for the most part, eerily silent. A few words were spoken, mostly words of encouragement. Lobo could be heard grumbling something about how he hated Gotham City, though nobody seemed too keen to pay much attention to him.  
  
Wonder Girl sat next to Superboy, her body curled into a ball, seeking some kind of warmth. The rush of winter air did little to comfort her. She glanced over at Kon, her teammate, and began to recall all the events up until now. How she first got her powers. Her first meeting with Secret. How she joined Young Justice. She glanced back over at Superboy, who reciprocated by glancing at her. Their eyes met, and for a moment, a brief moment, she felt a wave of calm rush over her. This was the man she had joined the team for. And, although he had not quite lived up to her expectations, she enjoyed his presence nonetheless. In fact, joining the team had been nothing short of a fantastic experience.  
  
But her mind leapt back. Looking down at the darkness that pierced the horizon, at The Midnight Kingdom, she could not help but recall the events here. The gods of fear.  
  
"You don't lead Young Justice," she had screamed in a loud voice to Robin. "I lead Young Justice!"  
  
A rush of wind ran through her, numbing her skin. She shook involuntarily. She wished she could take back the words she said in haste. She wished that she could say how truly sorry she was.  
  
But most of all, she wished she could go back, and relive that first day she ever met Young Justice....  
  
Superboy gazed up at the stars above him, his mind floating as it tended to. He could feel the tension of his teammates, their doubts and fears. But he told himself to remain calm, to remain cool. Robin was a big boy. He'd seen him pull victories out of places that even HE didn't know existed. He overheard someone mention something, and, in his typical bravado, spoke words of confidence.  
  
"He'll be fine," he had heard himself say. "We'll find him, get him out, he'll thank us, and then things'll be back to normal." He smiled as he said this, but his voice seemed to waver a bit. He didn't know why, though. He was confident that everything would be okay in the end. Young Justice always came out on top. Why should this time be any different?  
  
He gazed back up at the stars. There sure were a lot of them. He wished Robin were there to see `em....  
  
Red Tornado was focused on the task at hand. Driving the Super Cycle was something new to him. Normally he flew beside it, letting Robin take the controls. Robin. Deep down inside of him he felt something. Like a pit had grown inside his stomach. He once rejected humanity because he felt that he had no emotions, no connection to the people he once protected. But now he wished he was still void of said emotions.  
  
Robin was part of the team he was supposed to monitor. Robin was the glue that held them together, kept them focused. For all it was worth, Robin was more of a guiding force than he ever was. Holding his head down, he scanned through the files of all the Robin's in the past. Three in all. Each once unique in their own way, each one special, each one with different personalities that dictated how they handled things.  
  
Each one with the same tragic ending:  
  
Robin 1 Status-Currently Nightwing Career Ended by Joker  
  
Robin 2 Status-Deceased Brutally Murdered by Joker  
  
Robin 3 Status-......  
  
His mind, in all its precise autatomic ways, fidgeted over the last part. `Status'. It blinked in his computer mind over and over, like an incessant faucet leak. The repeat of Joker's name at the end of each file did little to soothe him. But whatever doubts he had in his mind he dissuaded him. Robin could handle himself admirably in any situation. He was, after all, trained by Batman.  
  
But, then again, so were the other Robin's....  
  
Below Gotham City looked like such an insignificant speck. For that matter, from above everyone looked like minuscule specks. Impulse's eyes darted across the landscape, over each alleyway and down every street corner.  
  
*If I wasn't crazy, this kid would drive me insane.*  
  
Joker's words echoed through his ears. He had encountered the Clown Prince of Crime once, and thankfully Batman was there with him. He had heard worse stories. `No Man's Land' came to mind. He shuddered at what Robin was going through, but was confident that he'd make it out. He was, after all, The Urban Legend. He'd fought Joker before. He knew what he was doing.  
  
But still, something just didn't sit right, and he knew this time it wasn't the tacos he ate either. Something was wrong. Something was horribly wrong....  
  
"This is the spot," Wonder Girl said, pointing down.  
  
"Are you sure?" Superboy asked, not meaning to sound demeaning, but just meaning to ask.  
  
"Positive," she said. The Super Cycle hovered above a large clock tower. It stood tall, compared to most clock towers. It looked as though it had been there for ages, its foundation weathered and chipped. The clock face glowed eerily, like a giant eye overlooking the city. The turning of the gears could be heard like a hum through the night air.  
  
"So, where do we go in at?" Anita asked as the two cycles moved down for a landing.  
  
"He said to park behind the alleyway," Wonder Girl said.  
  
"Then that's where we park," Red Tornado responded, setting the cycle down just behind the clock tower. Dust kicked up as the cycle settled down on the pavement.  
  
"Stay put," Tornado told the cycle as the team vacated it.  
  
"Yeah, you too," Lobo ordered his cycle, which whimpered as he scolded it.  
  
The team made their way in through a side entrance that Batman had told them about and proceeded up a long and winding stairway. Those that could fly flew, but at a slow pace. Even Impulse kept things at a nominal walking pace. The sound of the winding clock grounded through the stairway like a squeaky tire, and their footsteps echoed like hammers. Aside from Lobo, who obviously was just along for the ride, the team was overtly fidgety. This was Batman's turf. And there wasn't a single thing about Batman that didn't make the team edgy.  
  
They approached a large set of doors. Superboy moved to the front of the group, alongside Red Tornado, and together they entered the unknown ahead of them, the group following close behind.  
  
"WHO GOES THERE???" a voice thundered. Before them hovered a giant head. The head hovered near the ceiling, glowing an eerie green. The face was like nothing any of them had ever seen before, and it is accurate to say that the entire team, including Lobo, collectively wet themselves at the sight.  
  
"CRIKEY!!!" Impulse hollered.  
  
"IN HERA'S NAME...!" Wonder Girl also said.  
  
They stood there for what seemed hours, though were mere seconds, before Impulse actually said something.  
  
"We...we were sent by Batman..." He stammered.  
  
The head hovered there for a moment, then, in a blink of an eye, vanished. The room was eerily quiet for a second or so, then a door, out of nowhere, opened before them. The team half-expected some hideous creature to come forth. They were taken aback, however, when they were greeted by a cute redhead in a wheelchair.  
  
"You must be Young Justice," she said, her voice weary. "Robin's told me so much about you. Come in."  
  
"Whoa, talk about your `Wizard of Oz' moments," Empress commented as the team made their way inside.  
  
"IS THERE NOBODY NORMAL IN THIS TOWN?!?" Lobo exclaimed, frustrated, as the mind of Impulse pictured the image of the redhead behind a curtain, Toto pulling away the drapes as the head floated above them.  
  
The team entered the room, single file, led by the young lady in the wheelchair. The glow from the clock faces filled the room with an eerie hue, as the team marveled at its size. The clock head seemed much smaller from the outside. Along the wall, near the corner closest to them, were arranged a gaggle of computer monitors, connected to a hard drive that would have made Bill Gates green with envy. Several desks lined the walls, each piled to the brim with files and maps from all over the world. Clocks, also, lined the frame work, giving times of places all over the world, from Metropolis all the way to Hong Kong.  
  
Despite all that filled the room, and despite all the sources of light, which permeated through each crack and crevice, the shadows still blanketed, like a black sackcloth, over what the light did not touch. Even here, where technology seemed to prevail, the darkness of the Midnight Kingdom slighted with its cold touch.  
  
"WhoalookatthatwowIdintknowtheymadethatanymorewhatsthatbuttondo..." Impulse zipped through the room at speeds that defied thought, examining each corner with high speed efficiency.  
  
"Hey, nice statue," he noted as he passed an unmoving figure in the corner.  
  
"I am not a statue," the figure said, striding out from the shadows. She was clad in lavender and black, her hair falling on her shoulders, a cross gleaming from her chest. Her eyes pierced through to Impulse's soul, freezing him in his place. As if taking a cue, several more individuals emerged from the shadows, like mythical creatures of the night.  
  
"Young Justice," the young red head spoke, spinning her chair around to face them. "I'd like to introduce the Bat Family." She motioned to the small contingent of spandex clad warriors standing off in the corner.  
  
"Nightwing."  
  
"Pleasure to meet you."  
  
"Azrael."  
  
"Greetings."  
  
"Batgirl."  
  
"...."  
  
"And Huntress, which Impulse has already had the...*ahem* `esteemed pleasure' of meeting."  
  
"Whatever."  
  
The team gazed in awe at the members of the `Bat Family'. They instantly recognized Nightwing, his black costume adorned with his trademark blue symbol running across his chest. Batgirl, too, stood out amongst the others. She glared at them, as if studying their actions, learning from their motions. The others were a little more vague. Huntress, a few of them noted, was a former Justice League member. Her lavender and black costume hid a woman whose heard filled with crimson, her hands stained with blood. Azrael, however, none of them really recognized. His costume was much brighter than the others, making him stand out the most. He looked almost like an angel to some of them, the way he was adorned. But other than that nothing about him screamed to be noticed. It was as if he was there simply because he had been told to do so.  
  
"And who, if I might be so bold, are you, young lady?" Red Tornado asked politely. She smiled a bit, slightly humored.  
  
"Just call me Oracle," she said with a friendly smile.  
  
"Whoa," Empress whispered in awe to Wonder Girl. "This is unreal."  
  
"Tell me about it," she responded in hushed tones. "It's like being at an angst support group."  
  
"So, uh, I guess we've met the rest of the rescue squad," Superboy said. "But where's the main cheese? Where's Batman?"  
  
Like a whisper of wind, a mass of shadow whipped through a nearby window, its wings fluttering as it touched ground. The mass rose from the ground where it landed, rising tall above all those there. His shadow, cast by the glowing moon behind him, fell upon the members of Young Justice. His face was scowled, and his voice ruff as he spoke.  
  
"Here," Batman said, stepping forward.  
  
"HERA!" Wonder Girl said, clutching her heart. "Don't DO that!!!" Nightwing and Oracle allowed a slight chuckle, as they were the closest to Batman personally. Batman payed no notice to the team as a whole as he strode past them to Oracle.  
  
"Any word yet?" he asked.  
  
"My eyes haven't reported anything," she said, sighing. "No one's seen Joker in a while, though the word on the street is that he's been pulling a BIG recruitment drive, but to where no one knows. He's keeping quiet. Too quiet."  
  
Batman's voice got quieter. "What about his father?"  
  
"The family's filed a missing person's report. I managed to intercept it first, thankfully. But I don't know how long I can fool them." She slouched a bit, apparently exhausted from the efforts she'd put in.  
  
"You've done well." He turned to face the other members, who stood at attention in the corner.  
  
"As you well know, Robin has been missing for several days. Finding him is my primary concern, because whatever he has planned for Robin he undoubtedly has planned for the rest of Gotham." He paused, taking into consideration everything he was about to say.  
  
"Azrael, Huntress, your jobs will be to guard the city, keep it safe. If either of you hear or see anything concerning either Robin's or Joker's whereabouts, inform me IMMEDIATELY. Otherwise, keep at your posts until further notice."  
  
"Nightwing," he said, turning to his former partner. "As much of a brother as Robin may be to you, I must ask that you remain in Bludhaven."  
  
"But...." he began to speak up. Batman placed his hands on his shoulders.  
  
"I know this is hard, but someone has to guard your city, and Huntress and Azrael are going to be too busy here to do it as well as you have. Besides, if Joker or Robin should turn up there instead of in Gotham, I'm going to need someone who can handle the situation like I would. And you're the only one I can trust to do that."  
  
Nightwing held his head low. It was a responsibility that he did not wish to handle, but knew he had to.  
  
"I'll take care of it," he said silently, raising his head, his gaze meeting Batman's.  
  
"Thank you," he whispered.  
  
He turned to face Young Justice, letting his gaze fall upon each of them individually, like a general inspecting his army. His cape flowed like liquid smoke as he paced back and forth. Their hearts fell into their stomachs, all except for Red Tornado.  
  
"Myself," he said, looking forward at nothing in particular. "I will be aiding all of you on your search, as well as Batgirl. You will do what I say, when I say, however I say to do it." He was in their faces now, glaring down, baring down upon them collectively. All but Lobo were taken aback by the ferocity in his words.  
  
"John," he spoke to Red Tornado, referring to him by his secret identity, "you will be my go-between. Understood?"  
  
"Completely," the android responded. Batman placed his hand on his shoulder, patting it in thanks. He said nothing, but the point was gotten across.  
  
"I'm counting on all of you," he said, his voice cracking from exhaustion. "Don't let me down." He proceeded towards his former point of entry.  
  
"Wait, what are we supposed to do?" Superboy asked. "Where are we supposed to go? How are we...?"  
  
"You'll be staying at the Gotham Regale Hotel. I suggest you check in now and get some rest. You'll have a long night tomorrow."  
  
"Wait," Wonder Girl spoke up. "What about tonight? Aren't we going to do anything now?"  
  
From the cracks of the horizon a beam of orange crimson beamed across the landscape and through the tower, slowly filling it with natural light.  
  
"The night's over," Batman responded. "Meet back here tomorrow, sundown. Oracle will give you your assignments then." With a whip of motion, he leapt through the window and soared through the Gotham skies against the wailing winds.  
  
The others followed suit, each dancing through the night air as if to the beat of their own tune. Just as he was about to leap, Nightwing glanced back at the team, standing there, still unable to find any proverbial ledge to cling to.  
  
"Good hunting," he said sympathetically. Then he, too, embraced the remaining darkness and the oncoming dawn.  
  
The team turned to face Oracle, their eyes begging for answers that not even she could give them.  
  
"I can provide you with civilian clothes," she said, wheeling towards the entrance of her apartment wing of the tower. "I suggest you get going soon. And please try to stay incognito."  
  
"You're going to be dealing with the devil himself," she said as she turned to face them. "Proceed with caution. If you have any misconceptions that you can just barge in and save the day, dispense with them now."  
  
"Just who are you, anyways?" Anita asked, both curious and confused at the same time.  
  
"I'm the victim of a Joker punch line," she said darkly. Her wheels squeaked as she moved out of the soft hum of computers and monitors and into a room of normalcy, Young Justice following suit, their minds suddenly cluttered with confusion and uncertainty.  
  
Secret, however, remained, her mists gently caressing each stone crevice as she gazed down at a nearby table. She reached down, her hand lifting a picture that seemed to catch her eye.  
  
"Robin...." she whispered as her eyes, and her fingertips, ran over the picture of the Urban Legend. A tear fell from her cheek, splattering on the picture, and tricked down to the floor.  
  
She turned quickly, and joined the group in their preparations for the long task ahead of them.  
  
Four days until New Years.... 


	5. Chapter 5

"Hello, and welcome to Channel 7, Gotham. I'm Stacie Richards. Later today we'll examine newly elected president Alexander Luthor and his administrations agenda, as well as feedback from other political figures on Capitol Hill. But first, our top story.  
  
"It's been several weeks since the Joker's daring escape from Arkham Asylum, and the police are still on wide alert for the Clown Prince of Crime. Citizens have also noted a large contingent of super powered individuals patrolling the streets, though officials refused to comment.  
  
"In an unrelated story son of millionaire industrialist Robert Drake has gone missing. Timothy Drake, who caught the media's eye as the poster child for "No Man's Land", is believed kidnapped, though no ransom demand has been made. Mr. Drake is offering a one million dollar reward for any information regarding the whereabouts of their son. More information to follow.  
  
"More on the news, following the weather with Brian. Brian..."  
  
****************************  
  
The winter air was awash with emotions, both joyful and hideous. Fear and elation boiled together at air temperatures of ten degrees as the masses were all bustling over the coming new year.  
  
In the sky and on the ground, moving at feverish paces, were the members of Young Justice. High and low, through each nook and cranny they searched, to no avail, for their wayward leader, mentor, friend. Joined with the Dark Night and his newest protege, Batgirl, they left no stone unturned, no avenue unchecked. All to no avail. Gotham City was a giant beast unto itself, hungry for despair, thirsty for pain. Searching for Robin was like searching for a needle in a stack of needles, only this stack would occasionally toss a rattlesnake into the mix.  
  
In Bludhaven, Blockbuster made advancements in his criminal enterprises, but was stopped short, just barely, by an emotionally distracted Nightwing. In Gotham a wave of robberies orchestrated by Two Face was brought down by the combined efforts of Huntress and Azrael with brutal efficiency.  
  
But the team remained focused on THEIR task. Through and through their goal was clear: Find Robin. But it seemed as though they were working under a guillotine, and each dashed hope brought the blade closer and closer to their necks until the approaching dawn brought an unsuccessful night to close.  
  
Three days until New Years, and still nothing.  
  
"I"m sorry I couldn't do much more," Oracle spoke to Batman through their communications link. "He had too many connections with too many important news reporters."  
  
"Don't worry about it," he said. "You did what you could to keep him out of the news."  
  
"How goes the search?" she asked him. He was in his cave, mask removed, seated at his monitor. The screen flickered with maps and files from any and every source he could find, in a vain hope to unearth some hidden clue to Joker's plan or his partner's whereabouts.  
  
"Not good," he said. She sighed on the other end.  
  
"I'll keep you posted," she said. "Oracle out."  
  
Batman returned to his duties at the monitor, moving at a mechanical pace through each digital leaflet. He would find Robin. He would save Robin. He would be alive when he found him.  
  
He allowed himself one moment of humanity, one moment to gaze back at the costume of his former ward, his lost son.  
  
"Jason," he whispered the name of his long gone partner, the image of his face drowned in its own blood, his body limp and broken, like a rag doll. For one brief moment he could feel his hair, the smell of gasoline and burnt flesh in the air, and the taste of utter rage and despair drown around him.  
  
Then the moment passed, and he returned to his computer, becoming the detective that Tim needed him to be.  
  
******************  
  
*How many moments had passed?* I asked myself as I lay in the darkness. I had been slipping in and out of consciousness for some time. My ribs were broken, skull fractured. Joker, not wanting me to die so soon, decided to fix me up as only his twisted mind could: He stapled me back together.  
  
I could feel my skin taut as the staples stretched each sinew, twisted each nerve ending, but somehow my body felt no pain. No, I had become numb to pain hours ago, or was it days ago, maybe minutes ago. Time had no meaning to me. For the first time I could feel how heavy his mask was, the weight of the kevlar costume. It had stopped the smaller staples from piercing my flesh. Improvising (the Joker seemed to be good at that), and not wanting to damage "his costume", he instead used industrial staples for his "surgery". I could also feel the stretching of something sticky and hard. I looked down to see duck tape wrapped around my broken bones and waist. I had to chuckle a bit at the absurdity of it. Despite the searing agony that I had endured, as well as the fact that most of the bleeding hadn't fully subsided, it kept my ribs in place.  
  
I moved slightly, letting my weight shift. My arms were bound together inside a straight jacket. I wanted to make some kind of attempt to break free, but I felt so weak, so tired. I inhaled the air around me. It was stale with the stench of my own blood and sweat. And mold. The aroma of mold was most notable of all. Why did the whole place smell of mold? We were in a factory, weren't we? Or were we in a warehouse? Maybe it was a phone booth. It sure felt that way.  
  
He had been sitting across from me for hours, not moving, just observing me. Even when I was unconscious I could feel his eyes on me, staring at me, no, through me. I could hear him breathing, the slight whistle of wind blowing though his teeth as he smiled at me. Was he always smiling? He just observed me, carefully, like I was some sort of lab rat. I could barely see him out of the corner of my eye, sitting cross-legged on what appeared to be an armchair. It was brown leather, that much I could tell, even in the dim lighting. His pale skin, neon hair, bulging eyes...he was a joke to look at. A clown. Heh....The Clown Prince of Crime. Why did that seem funny?  
  
I tried to adjust myself using my head as a prop, since my arms were all but useless. I could feel the fabric of the couch chaff my skin. My skin tore as it rubbed up against the rough materials, opening old wounds. Something snagged on a stray strand. It tugged on my face as I tugged on it, until I ripped myself away, the shock of something slicing through my flesh coursing through my body. I looked down, and saw it was a staple. The extra weight of my head had not been because I was weak, I realized. It was because the maniac had stapled my mask to my face.  
  
"You....stapled my mask....to my face," I told him as I finally moved to a seated position. His smile only grew wider.  
  
"You do nit rememberrr our zeshion?" He said, attempting a poor Austrian accent. I could only shake my head. So groggy, so confused. Mold and blood. Where was that mold?  
  
Joker reached down and pulled out a tape recorder, and pressed play. Despite the grumbling of the tape's poor quality, I could here Joker and I conversing with each other. Though conversing would be a loose term. He did most of the talking, and all I did was respond in some incoherent babble.  
  
"So, Robin. Kin I call you Robin?" he said on the tape. I gargled something in response. It must have been just after the "surgery".  
  
"Now, vat is your real name, Mr. Robin?" he asked me. I cringed, expecting my true name. But all I heard was a very derogatory response. I smiled in relief, the only relief I've had since today.  
  
"Ah, I zee," he had said, the sound of scribbling following. He had obviously decided to take notes.  
  
"Zo, now zen. Vy deed you become a zooper hero, Mr. Robin?"  
  
"I...ugh....*gargle* humnunimunmmuh..."  
  
"Zpeak up child. How kinn ze doctor cure you if you din't answer me?"  
  
"Ugh....mo...mom.....mommy....."  
  
"Ah, yes. Ze mother. A common moteeve." More scribbling.  
  
"Doctor, what's your prognosis?" A female voice said. Harley Quinn.  
  
"My prognosis, my dear assistant, iz zat zis man iz NUTS!" The sound of paper being tossed aside and something metallic being picked up.  
  
"Clearly zis child tinks dat, by being a zooper hero, he can make his mommy proud und happy, und thus is ze cause of all hiz problems, and ours."  
  
"What do you suggest doctor? Should we remove the mask?"  
  
"Nein, mein libschen. Zat would only compound ze problem. No, obviously ve must attempt to fuse ze boy child mit his costumed personality."  
  
"And how do you suggest we do that, doctor?"  
  
"Simple," he responded. I could hear the sound of a stapler clicking, followed by my muffled attempts to stop him.  
  
"Like this." I shuddered at the sound of my own screams as each staple bore into my flesh. I could hear the violence of the moment, the savagery, my own agony. Most of all, I could hear his laughter. It was sickening. The moment was sickening. I did what anyone would have done when they heard their shrieks of anguish and the muffled sounds of a stapler being bashed against one's skull.  
  
I puked.  
  
"Feel better?" Joker said, turning off the tape recorder. He got to his feet, moved right into my face. I wanted to punch him. No, I wanted to rip his eyes out and shove them back down the sockets. I wanted to rip out his vocal chords and feed them to him rectally. But most of all, I wanted to stop the smell. Why did it smell like MOLD?!? There wasn't any MOLD around!  
  
"So, tell me, Boy Blunder, how do you feel?"  
  
In my mind I could see Stephanie, cold and lifeless, tied to a pole, her eyeless sockets staring at me, smiling at me, laughing at me. I could feel the cold wind around me as I fell, as my bones crushed underneath my own weight as I tumbled to the ground. I could hear Young El drowning, and me unable to save him. I could imagine Philmont's skull being crushed by the men I refused to rescue him from. I could see my mother and father, dressed to kill, laughing it up at some gala as I was left in the care of nannies that were indifferent. I could feel fear. I could feel cold. I could feel hot. I could feel hungry, tired, thirsty, sweaty, agony, pain, laughing, why were they laughing pointing judging laughing stop laughing pointing judging my faultmyfault lovehatelovehatehatelovestopjudginglaughingpointingscreamingyellingstopstops topmy faultmyfaultstopstopstopstopstopSTOPSTOPSTOPSTOPSTOPSTOSTOPSTOPSTOP!!!!  
  
"Well, how do you feel?" he asked again. I gazed up, eyes full of tears and my own blood. He smiled at me. It was a warm smile, a caring smile. He placed his hand on my shoulders, then shoved the other in my face.  
  
"I asked how you FELT!!!" he screamed, his gloved hand over my face. I suddenly felt a burning on my face. Like I had been set aflame. I had never felt a burning like this before. My face sizzled like a grease pit as I writhed in agony. I wanted to clutch my face, to smother the unseeing flames, but curses they were bound pain pain pain pain pain painpainpain..... "AAAAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!" I screamed in spite of myself as he removed his hand from my face. I launched my body to the ground, writhing and squirming in pain, smashing my skull against the floor. I screamed louder than I ever had, even louder than in the recording. I screamed until I though I could scream no longer. Then I screamed louder.  
  
"Oh, did I ever tell you my favorite movie was `Fight Club'?"he said. "Nifty little stuff that is. I guess it really DOES burn the skin. Now, do you want me to make yousie feelie good again?" He grasped in his hand a bottle of vinegar. I could not comprehend, nor answer, so I only screamed louder.  
  
"Tell me, then, how do you feel?"  
  
"P...pain...." I wept. "Pain. PAIN!!!"  
  
"Good." He tossed the vinegar in my face. I could feel the results immediately. My wounds had been fused shut finally, but I could already see in my mind the blisters that were forming as I sighed in relief. He knelt beside me.  
  
"Now that wasn't so bad, now was it?"  
  
I looked him in the eyes. Eyes that didn't care. Eyes like a puppet; soulless, unsympathetic. My body was aching, my brain was throbbing, and my nostrils were all but awash in the putrid stench of mold. I was scared, I was tired, I wanted to go home, I wanted to die. God in Heaven I just wanted...to...  
  
I felt it growing inside me. It started as a chuckle. It grew faster, swelling like a tsunami, surging to the surface. My chuckle swelled, swelled, swelled, until I could hold it down no longer. I no longer cared. I no longer felt pain. I was going to die. And it was just...too...damn...FUNNY!!!!  
  
"BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAA!!!!!"  
  
"SUCCESS!!!" Joker cried out as I rolled on the floor, laughing at my own personal joke with my own personal punch line. Harley Quinn was by his side, embracing him like they were the happy couple.  
  
"It worked puddin'," she squealed. They watched me longer, taking my madness in like a French delicacy, like a fine wine. I, myself, was no longer aware of their presence. I was no longer aware of MY presence. I could still hear the screams, I could still feel the pain, but it all felt so distant. Like it didn't belong to me. Everything and nothing was funny. My eyes were like peeled grapes, my lungs like sandpaper. But nothing mattered. Even as I stumbled over the Joker's armchair and felt my arm snap out of its socket I felt like laughing.  
  
"Please sedate out little guinea pig hon," Joker told Quinn. "I want him to be coherent for this."  
  
She nodded, and went to work. It took her some time to get me to hold still for more than a second. But she did, and I felt a calmness rush over me as she injected what was most likely some kind of tranquilizer. My breathing was heavy, and I was on the verge of blacking out from the energy I had exerted in my moment of abject insanity.  
  
"You've been most helpful," Joker said to me. "I want you to know that, while you've been staying at Casa Joker, we've been pumping the air system with a little experiment of mine.  
  
"You see, it's lonely being the only one on this earth with any sense of humor. So I've decided to change that.  
  
"I'll give Arkham credit, it's a GREAT way to meet new people and swap recipes. Dr. Crane's fear serum was so ingenious. And I found that, by tweaking the formula with my own little pizzazz, it could drive a man insane. Or, at least, male lab rats, monkeys, and whatever I could get my hands on.  
  
"You were my second HUMAN subject after your little girlfriend. Boy, was she a tough cookie. No matter what I did, she kept clinging to the hope that you would come and save her. Even when I covered her in birdseed and had the pigeons peck her eyes out she still believed you'd save her. Frankly, it bored me so much that I completely forgot her on that roof. My bad.  
  
"But it occurred to me; why not use YOU as a substitute? But you were turning out to be such a disappointment. And, since I am a man with a schedule to keep, I couldn't just let you keep clinging to false hopes.  
  
"You see, my formula is perfect, all except for one small flaw: It'll bend the mind, but it takes something else to break it.  
  
"And, thanks to you, I've figured it out. Come New Years Eve, when that ball drops, so will a whole VAT of my new `Joker Juice'. But wait, that's not all. Since it takes a traumatic event to trigger the chemicals, I've laced enough explosives to take out three city blocks. The ones that survive will be so grief stricken that they'll snap, and become little Mini- Jokers."  
  
He moved in closer to me, whispering into my ear. "And you wanna know what's even more beautiful?" He leaned even closer, his lips almost on my lobe.  
  
"IT'S CONTAGIOUS!!! BWAHAHAHAAAAA!!!"  
  
I needed to stop him, I need to warn someone. I needed to do something. But the tranquilizers had worn off, and all I could do was laugh like a hyena. Joker laughed along side me, and soon Harley Quinn joined in. It was like a choir of madness, a song of lunacy sung by lunatics.  
  
And, God help me, I was now one of them.  
  
Forgive me, Steph. Forgive me..... 


	6. Chapter 6

Two days before New Year:  
  
This was becoming too commonplace. Just when life was starting to settle down, things got complicated. First it was Harm, then it was New Genesis, and now Robin. Why couldn't things be normal? Why couldn't they just fight some evil incarnate like the J.L.A. or the Titans? Why did they always get stuck with the emotional baggage? Oh well, at least he was able to bring his Gamestation along to keep him occupied.  
  
******************  
  
Kon awoke to the sounds of explosions and gunfire. His first reaction was to leap to action.  
  
"Die Communist dogs!!!' he screamed as he leapt up from his bed.  
  
"Morning Kon," Bart said, his attention fixated on the television screen. Kon lay back in his bed, letting his nerves calm down.  
  
"Morning Bart. What time is it?"  
  
"Twelve thirty."  
  
"Twelve thirty, huh? Oy, it feels like it's still two in the morning. How do they do it?"  
  
"Caffeine."  
  
"Hey, how long have YOU been awake anyway?"  
  
"Since nine."  
  
"NINE?!? But we got in at 7:30. How can you be awake at this hour?"  
  
"I wasn't tired."  
  
"Typical. Hey, where's Lobo at?"  
  
"He's still in the closet."  
  
"Wait....did you say `in the closet'?"  
  
"Yep. Go see for yourself."  
  
Kon-El walked over to the closet, opened the door, and, sure enough, saying upside down in a pile of clothing was `The Top Teen' himself, out like a light. At a loss for words, Kon simply placed his fingers on the roof of his nose and, shaking his head, quietly closed the closet door.  
  
"I'm going to go get something to eat," he said. "You want anything while I'm gone?"  
  
"Nah, I'm fine," he said. In a flash he was surrounded by mounds of chocolate and potato chip snacks. Superboy rolled his eyes.  
  
"CM3, Beast Boy," he whispered as he looked at his teammate buried underneath a pile of snack foods and electronic entertainment equipment. "Any of them we could have had join. But noooo, we have to go accept a speedster with no attention span."  
  
He walked down to the lobby of the hotel they were staying at. The Gotham Regale Hotel. It was renown for its high class clientele and five star service. He glanced around, marveled by the ornate masonry, delicate tapestry, and intricate architecture.  
  
He walked down into the lobby. Several influential business people were checking in, while others were checking out, but overall it was pretty quiet. After a night like last night he wanted nothing but quiet. He didn't see any of his female companions, so he proceeded on to the dining hall. It was pretty vacant, obviously just missing the lunch rush. Seated at a long table, however, was the group he was looking for.  
  
"Hey guys," he waved to a pair of young ladies.  
  
"Kon," the blonde waved in response. Her name was Cassie. Seated across from her was Anita. They were two of the team's regional female members. Under combat situations they would have been referred to as Wonder Girl and Empress.  
  
Superboy took a seat at the table. Anita was barely able to respond as she cradled in her hands a warm cup of coffee. Cassie had just finished her mug and was requesting a refill. Kon, taking the opportunity, ordered the strongest cup of java they had.  
  
"So, how long have you two been up?" he asked, trying to be cordial.  
  
"Since fifteen minutes ago, although I don't think Anita's awake yet." Anita slumped over the side of the table, unconscious. Cassie and Kon giggled at the sight. "So, when did you wake up?"  
  
"Just now. Bart decided that, since he was awake, I should be too."  
  
"*Giggle* I know. He came into our room wanting directions to get to our base from here."  
  
"You've got to be kidding me. *Ugh* Sometimes I wonder about that boy."  
  
"Tell me about it. Anita nearly took his head off with those blades of hers. So, where's Lobo? Is he awake yet?"  
  
"Nah, he still has yet to come out of the closet." Cassie gave him a cock-eyed look, then just shrugged it off. Besides, their coffee had arrived.  
  
"So, how's your group been doing?" he asked her as she sipped her fresh refill. "Any luck?" She shook her head.  
  
"No, just false leads. I can't believe how twisted and huge this city is. I'm beginning to wonder if we'll ever find him at this rate."  
  
Kon put his hand on her shoulders. "We'll find him. Don't worry. I don't care how insane this Joker guy is, we'll beat him, we'll find Rob, and then we'll bring him back." She rose her head, and gazed into his eyes. Such confidence, such poise. There were times that he was so arrogant she wanted to smack him, but, at times like this, she wished she had his strength. She allowed a weak smile, and Kon replied with a smile of his own.  
  
"Huh...wha...." Anita said, regaining consciousness. "Oh, hey Kon. When did you get here?"  
  
"I've been here for a while. Sleep well?"  
  
"Shut up." She stretched, unaware of the coffee soaked napkin stuck to her face. "So, is everyone else up?"  
  
"All except Lobo. What about Secret? She asleep?" Anita and Cassie both looked at each other, a quizzed look on each other's face.  
  
"Actually," Cassie said, "come to think of it, I don't think she ever went to sleep."  
  
"Yeah, I think she's still on the roof."  
  
"The roof?" Superboy said.  
  
"Yeah, she looked pretty upset," Anita noted. Kon held his chin in his hand in thought.  
  
"I think I know what's up. I think I'll go talk with her. You guys just chill here a bit."  
  
On the roof, knees brought up to her chin, Secret sat, gazing out towards the city. The sun was at her back and her mind lost in thought. Feelings rushed around inside her. Feelings of doubt, feelings of hope, feelings of curiosity, feelings of fear, feelings of hate, feelings of sorrow. But one feeling screamed loudest amongst the choir inside her. A feeling she felt for one person. A person she wanted so much to share with him, to be with him, to care for him, and to have him care for her.  
  
"This seat taken?" a voice spoke behind her.  
  
"Robin???" She said, her face aglow. Her face sank when she saw it was only Superboy.  
  
"Oh, hey Kon," she muttered.  
  
"Hey, make a guy feel good, why don't you," he jested. She wasn't laughing. Superboy took a seat beside her.  
  
"How you holding up?" he asked her. She hung her head down, but did not answer.  
  
"Look, I know you have feelings for Rob," he said. She snapped to attention.  
  
"I...I don't know what you're talking about," she stammered.  
  
"Look, you don't have to lie. I promise I won't tell anyone."  
  
"How did you know?"  
  
"It's not like it isn't obvious, even for someone who WASN'T trained by the world's greatest detective." She smiled.  
  
"Look, I know it's not easy, having a secret crush like this. It's even harder when you don't know if the other person has feelings for you."  
  
"You mean like between you and Cassie?" she said. This time it was Kon's turn to be taken aback.  
  
"Uh...I think we were talking about you and Rob here." Secret giggled a bit as Kon blushed.  
  
"I just wish Rob knew how I felt," she said with a sigh.  
  
"I'm sure he does. He just doesn't want to make anyone else feel...awkward. I mean, how weird would it be if two teammates were dating each other, ESPECIALLY if one of them was the team leader? I'm sure he doesn't want to bring that kind of pressure down on you."  
  
"You think?"  
  
"Positive. Besides, who's to say he doesn't have feelings for you?" He sat closer to her, putting his arm around her in a friendly manner. "Look, sometimes you just have to dare. Take that chance and put your heart on the line. That's the best way, the only way, you can live life to its full potential."  
  
Secret smiled, then floated to her feet.  
  
"Thanks Kon. I really appreciate it."  
  
"Don't mention it," he said. Secret proceeded of, but stopped shy.  
  
"Uh, Kon?" she asked, curious.  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"Do you even miss...her?"  
  
Superboy gazed out to the sun. "Yeah, sometimes. I don't think I really, truly loved her though. I just...wonder...what could have been. That's why you should tell Rob how you feel. You never know how long you have." Secret nodded, then floated off to rejoin her friends. Superboy sat down at the building's edge, and gazed out at the city.  
  
"I wonder...." he sighed.  
  
*********************************  
  
"This is getting us nowhere," Wonder Girl said, frustrated, as she flew through the midnight sky.  
  
"Patience Wonder Girl," Red Tornado said as he flew behind her. "We can only do so much."  
  
"Yeah, but Robin's counting on us, and it's only two days until New Years...."  
  
"Why don't we just frag the city and get it over with?" Lobo said, sidling up to the pair on his hog.  
  
"Lobo, you're supposed to be with Superboy over by the west side area," Red Tornado scolded.  
  
"Jeeze, calm down Red Breeze..."  
  
"That's `Red TORNADO," he corrected him. "And this is a search and rescue mission, so destroying the scenery would not be permitted."  
  
"Whatever. I'm going to go find `Nita. Where she at?"  
  
"She's with Secret and Batgirl on the rooftops," Wonder Girl said, not really wanting to talk to their gruff new addition. "So good luck finding `em."  
  
"What about the little spaz that's always making an idiot of himself?"  
  
"Impulse," Red Tornado said, "is down there." He pointed to the blur of red, white, and gold pacing the streets at speeds faster than the eye could perceive. "And you, young man, should be over there." He pointed towards the west area, where Superboy was flying lower to the ground.  
  
"Fine fine fine," he said, flying off. "Frag, finding this loser better be worth the trouble."  
  
"Sometimes I wonder why we let him hang out with us," Wonder Girl said.  
  
"Lapse of judgement," he responded in typical sarcasm. "I COULD send a wind stream to carry him into orbit if you truly wish."  
  
"Nah," she giggled, "he's okay, just aggravating some...."  
  
"Hang on," Tornado said, stopping in mid air. He placed his fingers against his ear. "Go ahead Empress. Uh huh....Uh huh.....Oh my......Right, we're on our way. Tornado to group, meet us down at the corner of Seventh and Vine."  
  
"What's up?" she asked their mentor as they rocketed to their teammate's position.  
  
"I think we've found something."  
  
*****************  
  
Anita couldn't believe what she was looking into. She had heard rumors, stories, of the madness that was The Joker, and was thankful she never had to see it for herself.  
  
Now she was looking at a mirror into that insanity, and it sent chills up her spine.  
  
"What is this place?" Secret said as they looked around, just as stunned as her companions.  
  
"If I'm not mistaken," she said, "I think this is The Joker's hideout."  
  
If ever there could be a living model of a human psyche gone wrong, this place would be it. Around them was a menagerie of tidbits and treasures from the Joker's exploits. Gags, gizmos, a giant tank of pirana along the wall, all the fish floating upside down, dead. Various animals hung upside down, their features twisted and contorted into ghastly smiles. In one corner was a dummy dressed as Batman, riddled with bullets, arrows, knives, swords, and a chain saw.  
  
All the windows were boarded up, allowing no natural light to come in. As some kind of joke, all the regular lights were replaced with green, purple, and black tinted lights. A disco ball hung in the center, shimmering in the odd mix of color.  
  
"Hey guys," Impulse said as he sprinted beside the three ladies. "What's up with....Ooooooo! Look at all the pretty colors."  
  
"Stay," Batgirl said, grabbing the Lad of Lightning before he could sprint into danger. Secret, however, was a little more difficult to hold back, as she floated around the room.  
  
"Robin?" she called out. "Robin, you here?"  
  
"Secret, you shouldn't go in there," Anita said, but her ghostly friend was not listening. Soon Impulse was inside the room as well.  
  
"Ugh," she said, shaking her head as Batgirl shrugged, then joined the rest.  
  
Secret stopped by what looked like a trophy case. Inside was a stitch work Robin costume. Underneath the costume was a crowbar, and a plaque.  
  
`The Day I Won'  
  
"This must have been from the other Robin," Impulse said as he stood by Secret, who had her face pressed up against the glass. "The one Joker....uh...y'know...."  
  
"Let's just find Robin," she said, floating away to go search for their leader.  
  
"Y'know, we SHOULD wait for the others," Empress said.  
  
"They'll get here," he said with a smile as he opened up an old refrigerator. "What's the worst that could happen?"  
  
A spray of fake snakes spewed out as he opened the refrigerator door. He screamed, sending a shockwave through the door, knocking over several beverage cans.  
  
"You alright Bart?" Secret asked.  
  
"Yeah, just need something to calm my nerves." He reached for a drink, and was about to sip when Batgirl grabbed his arm. Shaking her head, she pointed down to a rat, lapping up some liquid seeping from a broken can. The rat began to convulse, and in a few seconds died. Impulse looked at the can, eyes as wide as dinner plates, his thought bubble displaying the image of him, eyes crossed, tongue sticking out, after he drank the drink. Calmly, carefully, he put it up. "What's this?" Secret asked as she pulled a beaker out of the fridge. The liquid was a neon green, and had a strong smell of mold around it.  
  
"I wouldn't touch that if I were..."Impulse was about to say. But Batgirl took the beaker from her hand and, examining its contents, poured a sample into a small test tube, which she placed into her utility belt.  
  
"Look at this stuff," Empress said as they continued their tour. "This guy's gotta be completely nuts."  
  
"And would you look at all these papers," Impulse said as he rummaged through a stack of junk on top of a desk near the center of the room. "Most of these look like maps of places, tech stuff..."  
  
"Give," Batgirl said. She examined some of the papers she took.  
  
"What do they say?" Empress asked.  
  
"Don't know," she said.  
  
"What do you mean you don't know?" Impulse asked. "Can't you read?"  
  
"No," she said, folding a map and placing it into a pouch in her belt.  
  
"Robin?" Secret said as she heard a rustle behind one of the doors. She approached it carefully, and proceeded to open it. A stack of human corpses, rotted and decayed, piled on down to the floor.  
  
"AIEEE!!!!" She screamed as an inhuman chuckle emanated from the closet.  
  
"Oh sweet Jesus," Empress said, holding back the urge to vomit. Impulse, however, could not hold it back.  
  
"*BLECH!!!*"  
  
"Wha...what are these?" Empress asked.  
  
"Bodies," Batgirl said calmly as she examined the pile. She pulled out a small voice recorder, the one responsible for the laughing noise, and clicked it off. "Graveyard."  
  
"What? You mean that he dug these bodies up? Why?"  
  
"Insane," she responded coldly. It was then that the group became aware of a faint ticking noise.  
  
"Guys," Impulse said, cleaning his mouth off. "What's that faint ticking noise?"  
  
They looked deeper inside the closet. Inside they saw what looked like an alarm clock, its red numbers ticking down.  
  
.......5.......4.......3.......2........  
  
"BOMB!!!" Batgirl screamed. The team rushed to the doorway as fast as they could.  
  
......1......  
  
The group felt something pick them up and carry them into the air just as the warehouse exploded into a fiery ball of flame. They landed upon solid ground, and looked up to see Batman, his cape draped around them, their savior.  
  
"What part of `stay put' did you not understand?" he scolded them.  
  
"I thought you said we couldn't frag nuthin'!" Lobo whined to Red Tornado.  
  
"Nothing was `fragged', Lobo. It just looks like our young ones here ran into one of Jokers booby traps."  
  
"Itwasscarry," Impulse began to ramble on. "FirstIwasabouttogointhenBatgirlstoppedmebutSecretwentinthenwesawaRobincostu mebutitwasn'tourRobin'sthenIwasabouttotakeadrinkbutitkilledaratthentherewere thesebodiesandIvomitedand...."  
  
"Was he in there?" he asked Batgirl. She shook her head, then pulled out a map and the vile. "Found these," were her only words. He placed the vile into his belt then examined the map. A scowl fell over his face.  
  
"Take this to Oracle to be analyzed." He handed the paper to Batgirl, who nodded in response before taking off.  
  
"I'm heading to the Batcave to run tests on this liquid. If it's what I think it might be, then Robin's in a lot more trouble than what previously thought...."  
  
"Then we're coming with you," Superboy said. Batman gave him `the look', but the Teen of Tomorrow was unfazed.  
  
"Look, I know you want to protect your identity and all that, but if we're going to save Robin, we need to know what he's dealing with, what kind of tricks Joker's got planned too. I mean, what happens if we do find Robin, but Joker hits us with that stuff? We might turn into zombies, and then you'll have a group of metas on your hand. So, like it or not, we're coming too." The rest of the group just gazed at Superboy, their mouths hung wide in shock.  
  
"Kon, that was....wow," Cassie said. "I didn't know you had it in you."  
  
"Neither did I," he said shyly, rubbing the back of his head. Batman simply grumbled to himself.  
  
"Yes, it is frustrating when they make a point," Red Tornado whispered to Batman.  
  
He was making a calculated risk, letting these teens, one a rookie and the other a homicidal maniac, into their circle. But Robin's life was at stake, and he'd be damned before he lost another one.  
  
"Fine, follow me. But stay CLOSE! I don't want anyone else tailing." With that, the group was off.  
  
***************  
  
"So THIS is the Batcave," Anita said, gazing in awe at all that was legend brought to life. "For the longest time I never thought this place actually existed."  
  
"There are those that don't think I exist," Batman said as he peered into a microscope. "But the fact remains, it exists."  
  
"Wow, can I have some of these?" Impulse asked, carrying in a load of bat equipment.  
  
"Put those back," Batman demanded, not looking up from his microscope. Impulse whimpered, but obeyed nonetheless.  
  
"So, what's the deal?" Superboy asked.  
  
"It's definitely similar to his Joker toxin," he said, adjusting the knob. "But there are some varying differences. I need to run more tests." He removed a sample from the test tube and added it to a blood-tissue sample. He then examined the reaction. He did not like what he saw.  
  
"Sweet Jesus," he said.  
  
"What?" Secret asked.  
  
"It's a variation of his Joker toxin," he said grimly. "It disrupts various chemicals in the blood system, much in the same way his normal toxin does, only it doesn't kill people. It drives them insane."  
  
"Oh my God. Robin...."  
  
"There's still a chance we can save him," Batman said. "I'm pretty sure my regular antitoxins can cure this, but I need to run some more tests."  
  
"Batman, this is Oracle," an image popped up on his computer monitor.  
  
"Go on."  
  
"I've examined the schematics you gave me," she said. "They're definitely for a pretty powerful bomb."  
  
"BOMBS?!?" Superboy exclaimed.  
  
"Bombs. Pretty standard design, really. Wouldn't take much to disarm given enough time, but powerful enough to do some pretty lasting damage."  
  
"Was there anything else? And clues to Joker's whereabouts?"  
  
"Sorry. Plans like these can be downloaded off the Internet, and narrowing it down to a specific computer takes time that we just don't have."  
  
"Is there any chance that these bombs could be used to deploy gas of any kind?"  
  
"No. These are just your typical blow-big-holes-out-of-the-Earth kind of bombs. Why? What did you find?"  
  
Batman was eerily quiet for a few seconds, thinking of what words he could say, and realizing that nothing he could say would make the situation sound any more positive.  
  
"I know what Joker has planned," he said silently. "And I don't think we're going to find Tim alive."  
  
It was silent on the other end. The news was hard to take in, but she was trying as hard as she could to suck it up.  
  
"I...I'll do what I can on my end. Oracle out."  
  
"Wait, what do you mean you don't think he's alive?!?" Wonder Girl spat. The rest of the group was similarly confused/upset. Even Lobo seemed taken aback by the Dark Knight's statement.  
  
"He has to be alive," Secret said, trying to hold back the tears. "He....he can't be....."  
  
"Then why the FRAG are we still looking???" Lobo noted.  
  
"Mon, this...this isn't real," Empress said in similar disbelief.  
  
Batman seemed to ignore their arguments against the obvious. He glared back at the trophy case, the costume on display. Emotions began to swell inside of him, but, as always, he kept them in check.  
  
"Look," he said, turning to them. "I know your feelings. You want to think that he's still alive, and, under normal circumstances, I could tell you definitely whether or not he was. But we're dealing with the Joker, and that makes everything uncertain. For now, we have to assume that Robin is dead, or worse. MUCH worse.  
  
"But that doesn't mean we can stop looking for the Joker. Thousands, maybe even millions, of lives are at stake. If any of you respect Robin, you'll see this through." He paused one more moment to gaze at the display.  
  
"I'm counting on you."  
  
It was eerily silent, as each person took their time letting it all sink in. They came here with the purpose of saving their leader, their friend. Now their mission was for justice, and to bring a body home to bury. It was all too much for even them to swallow at once.  
  
"You....you said his name was `Tim'," Secret was the first to speak. Batman walked over to his computer and, with a couple clicks of the keyboard, brought up Robin's file.  
  
"Tim Drake," he said. "Son of Robert Drake, owner of Drake Industries. He came to me a few years ago, having discovered Nightwing and my identities. We agreed to train him. His mother was soon killed by the Obeah Man, who was brought to justice." He pulled out a floppy disk, and handed it to Superboy.  
  
"It's all here, everything about him, from his shoe size to his favorite food. It's what Tim would have wanted." Superboy looked at the file, and, for a second, was tempted to take it. After all, it was all there. Every question he ever had about Robin. Every secret, every lie, every truth....all there. He extended his hand, but retracted it.  
  
"No," he said. "Spit on what you think, Robin's still alive. I know it. And I don't care what YOU say, we'll find him. And you can bet the cave on that."  
  
Batman simply looked at him, eyes narrow as paper cuts, then turned away, facing the case.  
  
"Jason was the same way," he said grimly. The team stood there, waiting for something, anything, but got nothing. Finally, taking the cue, they left.  
  
The emotions boiled over in Batman. Joker took Dick. Joker took Jason. Joker took Tim. Joker, Joker, Joker, JOKER!!!!  
  
Batman screamed, his fist flying through the glass case. Glass shattered everywhere as he slumped to the floor, his breath heavy and hand aching. The costume's shadow cast itself upon him, as he gazed up, a tear flowing through his eyes.  
  
He prayed that Superboy was right. He prayed to God, his mother, and his father, that Superboy was right.......  
  
  
  
****************************  
  
  
  
One day until New Years:  
  
  
  
The place was alive with the sound of music. The pulsing rhythms echoed off the empty walls of the factory. Harley Quinn danced about, smile as wide as a garage. As she danced about, Joker came through the doorway. He was decked out in sequin purple pants, tight black spandex shirt, and gold chain. His hair was greased back, as he was dressed, literally, to kill.  
  
"Livin' da vida locaaa!!!!" he sang as he pranced about. Harley cooed, as the two of them started to do the mash potato, just like the scene from Pulp Fiction. It would have been amusing under different circumstances, watching a pale white clown and his shapely ex-psychologist dancing about.  
  
"Tomorrow night's going to be a BLAST!" he squealed as the music finally stopped. "Wine, women, music, dancing, fireworks..."  
  
"But I thought that they didn't have fireworks at the New Years Eve celebration," Harley said, setting up for a Joker punch line.  
  
"They will at this one. Heheheee. There'll be fireworks, explosions, and crescendo that'll have this whole globe dancing and singing to the tunes of the voices in their heads for CENTURIES! And speaking of madness, how's our little prodigy doing?"  
  
"I dunno Mr. J.," she said, frowning. "You should take a look at him." She led him to a large metal door, and opened it slowly.  
  
Inside was Robin. He was huddled in the corner, wrapped in a straight jacked, a puddle of sweat and filth around him. He was rocking back and forth, and weeping uncontrollably.  
  
"Hmmmm....manic depression," Joker said, holding his chin.  
  
"What do we do, puddin'? I mean, isn't he supposed to be, y'know, like you."  
  
"Now Harley, I said that it would turn him insane. Besides, what's life without a little variety? We have a few manics, a couple maniacs, your plain nut bags, and VOILA, one giant fruitcake called Earth."  
  
"You're a genius, Mr. J.," Harley said, cuddling up next to Joker.  
  
"You're right, I am." He turned to her, an evil grin on his face, his eyes narrowed menacingly. "Is everything ready?"  
  
"Troops are ready and waiting," she said.  
  
"Good. Load our little bird into the truck. We're moving to a deluxe apartment in the sky."  
  
"Right away, Mr. J!" And, with a salute, she was off to it. Joker walked away, shaking his head.  
  
"I hate it when she calls me that."  
  
  
  
***********************  
  
  
  
"Any luck?" he asked the youngsters. They all stood there, the winter winds chilling them to the core. The clouds covered any light, and hid every dark. Batman stood there, arms folded. His cape fluttered like the wings of a bat.  
  
"Nothing," Red Tornado said. "We can't find them anywhere."  
  
"Keep searching," Batman ordered.  
  
"We've BEEN searching," Empress said, tired. "We've been over this city at LEAST eight different times. We can't find them anywhere."  
  
"She's right," Impulse chimed in, pulling off his boot. Soot and pebbles fell into a pile as he emptied the contents. "I've ran through the city at least two thousand, eight hundred and sixty seven times TODAY, and I still haven't found anything."  
  
"We have to find him," Batman said.  
  
"We KNOW we have to find them," Wonder Girl said. "But it's like they've disappeared off the face of the Earth. We have no idea where in the city they could be."  
  
"Who says they're in the city?" Lobo said, cleaning his knife. The entire team, including Batman, turned their attentions to him.  
  
"What?" he said.  
  
Batman's face lit up. "The package! Impulse, bring me the package that Spoiler's mask came in."  
  
"What, you mean...this?" In a blink of an eye Impulse was standing before them, holding in his hands the box that started it all. Batman snatched it from him and, carefully, examined its underbelly. His eyes widened to the size of dinner plates.  
  
"How could I have been so foolish?" he said as he ran to the building's edge.  
  
"Where's he going?" Secret asked as he fell off the side.  
  
"I don't know, but we should follow," Superboy said. And, with that, they followed.  
  
  
  
*************  
  
  
  
  
  
"What is that?" Empress asked. The team stood in the darkness of the Batcave, the sound of winged vermin fluttering about the rooftop. Before them stood a large portal, twice the size of any of them. It was far more technological than anything else they had previously seen.  
  
"It's a teleportation device," Red Tornado said. "It's similar to the ones the J.L.A. uses, but of his own design."  
  
"What's he doing?" Empress asked.  
  
"Beats me," Superboy said.  
  
"I can't believe I let this slip me by," Batman muttered as he ran his fingers over the computer panel, ardently searching for something the team couldn't quite comprehend. "I let my emotions cloud my judgement. I only hope that Tim hasn't suffered too much for my foolishness." He then stopped, and holding his ear, began to speak.  
  
"Oracle. This is Batman. I want you to print out an extra copy of those bomb designs. I know where Robin is, and I know what Joker has planned."  
  
"Wait, you know where Robin is?!?" Superboy asked, stunned. "Where? Where is he?"  
  
Pressing several keys, the portal leapt to life, a giant, swirling pool of blackness. Batman glared back at them, his eyes piercing as ice picks, his voice dark.  
  
"Metropolis...." 


	7. Chapter 7

The sun was rising over Bludhaven, the sky like a watercolor painting of red and pink. Nightwing sat perched upon a flagpole, watching nature work its beauty. His mind, however, was elsewhere, else when. He was thinking back to his first encounter with Jason Todd. He was going to try to break up a drug run on his own. Only they got the drop on him. If it hadn't been for him, Jason would have been killed. So brash, so headstrong. Bruce had always told him that his temperament would get him killed. He always hated how Bruce was always right.  
  
He allowed himself five more seconds of scenery, and was about to swing his way home, until a buzzing in his right ear stopped him in his tracks.  
  
"Hey Babs, what's up?"  
  
"He wants you to meet him at the cave," she said. "BOTH of us!"  
  
"Him? Him who?"  
  
"Duh, who ELSE would call us?"  
  
"Oh, yeah. So, what's he want." The female voice on the other end sighed.  
  
"Well, here's the good news/bad news. Good news; Batman's found Robin."  
  
"REALLY!?!" he said, barely able to contain his excitement. "That's great. But.... uh...what's the bad news?"  
  
*********************  
  
The mansion always seemed so large, so alone, when Tim did something like this. He'd disappeared before, but he'd always given some heads up, some idea where he was at.  
  
"Jack, relax," a comforting voice said from behind. Jack Drake looked up from his easy chair to see the face of his new wife, Dana. Her smile could melt even the coldest part of his heart. This time it was not his heart that needed healing.  
  
"Have I been that bad a father?" he posed the question. She draped her arms him and kissed his cheek.  
  
"You've been as good a father as you could, given the circumstances. It's just that Tim's been leading his own life for so long that he doesn't know how to handle having a father who's there for him."  
  
Jack Drake sighed. "I'll never forget that. All that time, in a coma, Tim alone..." he sighed again. "But he should have been here. This time we were going to spend time as a family. Something me and his mother had trouble with."  
  
"You've done fine," she said, moving to face him. "You just have to give him time. You've alerted the news stations, posted a reward. If he's done on of his `disappearing acts', he'll see the report and come back, just like before."  
  
"But what if something's wrong? What if...?" Dana put a finger to his lips, silencing him.  
  
"Just relax Jack" She cuddled up to him on his chair. "Tim's a big boy. He can handle himself. Now let's just turn on the television and wait. He'll be back in time. He always is." Dana gently grabbed the remote control and turned on the television, trying to distract their minds.  
  
"Don't forget, we don't want to watch the New York broadcast," he said.  
  
"Oh, that's right. They moved the dropping of the ball to...."  
  
********************  
  
"Mommy, when's daddy getting home?" the young girl asked her mother. Her black hair was pulled back, as she looked up, her eyes full of innocence of wonder.  
  
"I don't know Traya," she said.  
  
"You think they've found Robin yet?" she asked.  
  
"Well, I hope so dear," the mother said assuredly, then quickly changed the subject. "So, what kind of pizza do you want?"  
  
"Pepperoni and mushroom, with olives," she said gleefully.  
  
"Alright dear."  
  
"Thanks for letting me stay up and watch the New Years Eve celebration," Traya said with a smile as her mother ordered pizza.  
  
"Well, I figured you're old enough, mature enough. Besides, it's not everyday that the celebration gets moved away from New York City."  
  
"Really? Where is it at now?"  
  
"Well, it's in......"  
  
****************************  
  
The tower was large. Much larger than it appeared on the outside. The young blonde crept around, wary of her surroundings.  
  
"Uh, hello?" she called out. "Is anyone here?"  
  
"WHO GOES THERE???" A giant head appeared out of nowhere, hovering in mid air, bearing down on the young female.  
  
"ACK!!!" She fell to her knees, and brought up her arms to defend her face. "I'M A FRIEND OF ROBIN'S! I'M A FRIEND OF...." The head disappeared, and in its place was a lovely red head, wheelchair-bound.  
  
"I recognize you," she said. "Robin spoke of you now and again. He admired you in some ways." The bags under her eyes gave away her exhaustion, her voice betrayed her fatigue.  
  
"Yeah, hi. Uh...you have me at a disadvantage, though. You know me, but I don't know...."  
  
"Oracle," the red head said. "Just call me Oracle."  
  
"Oracle, okay. Uh.....I....uh....Geeze, how do I say this. Well, I....came to help."  
  
"A little late, aren't you?" she said, arms folded. The young blonde was clearly hurt by her statements. Oracle lightened up.  
  
"They're not here. Not in Gotham, anyway."  
  
"Where did they go?" she asked.  
  
"I can't tell you," she said.  
  
"Please. You have to tell me. I want to find Robin, you've got to believe me. I want to help..." "You should have come sooner," she said. "If you really cared about finding him, you would have been here with the rest."  
  
"Look, maybe you don't know what it's like to be a super hero, or to know what it's like to turn your back on the business. I do, and so did Robin. Or, at least, he was the only one to understand." Her eyes were pleading, trying to find some angle that she could work into.  
  
"Please. I want to help." Oracle was firm, but exhaustion, plus having been in similar situations as the young female standing before her, her wall melted, allowing her humanity through.  
  
She handed her a paper. "They went here," she said.  
  
"Wait a minute. This is in....."  
  
************************  
  
The Bottle City of Kandor. Its red sun, artificial in nature, glowed with an eerie brilliance as the oceans crashed against the shore. Upon the beach a beautiful redhead and her dashing husband sprawled out like two beached whales, soaking in as much relaxation as possible.  
  
"This was a great idea Clark," Lois said, kissing her husband on the cheeks.  
  
"You know, we SHOULD be getting back now," he said with a smile, not really meaning what he said. "Perry'll have our jobs...."  
  
"MY job, remember. You don't work for the Planet anymore."  
  
"Oh, that's right," he said, feigning forgetfulness. Lois cuddled closer, draping her arms around his bare, muscular chest.  
  
"Just relax. We go back tomorrow, so let's enjoy our time now. Just you and me. No Planet, no Superman, no Luthor, and, especially, no...."  
  
******************  
  
"Welcome to the bridge to tomorrow. I'm Dick Clark, your guide as America treks into the year 2001. But what an exciting year 2000 was. Between the media dubbed `Sins of the Youth' to the election of Lex Luthor into the presidency, the opening of the 21st century and new millennium was certainly filled to the brim with excitement.  
  
"But here is where the real fun begins. Where America waves a fond farewell to the old year and prepares to greet the new. Everywhere around me people are have gathered from far and wide to party. Let's randomly grab an innocent bystander so that we can ask them a stupid and inane questions. How about this young lady with the face paint? Young lady, what's your name?"  
  
"Harley...uh...DINN! Yeah, Harley Dinn!"  
  
"Well now Harley. What brings you here?"  
  
"Well, I came to see Off Key perform. Heheeee."  
  
"Hahaaa. You a fan of the group?"  
  
"No, I think they &@$#!"  
  
"Ah, I see. So, what are your plans? You plan to party the night away? You...here with anyone special?"  
  
"Hehehe....yeah. Me and Mr. Jaaaaa...uh, Jay, plan on opening the New Year up with a BANG!"  
  
"Sounds like you two plan on going a little crazy tonight."  
  
"Yep. Me, him, you....heck, just about everybody that survives the initial blast."  
  
"....Okay, thanks for your time."  
  
"Don't mention it Mic."  
  
"Uh, that's Dick. Now let's get our cameras up to the stage, where Hanson is giving a performance of their new single....."  
  
***************************  
  
Metropolis. The City of Tomorrow. And rightfully so. Nowhere in the world would one find a more prime example of soulless technology brought to life than here. The soft whine of super generators and constant buzz of B13 technology filled the air, as neon lights and electric winds filled the sky with a lively glow as the sun gave way to the night. A living, breathing entity of power, light, and might, intertwined like vines with hope and a general welcoming feeling of the future. A parallel opposite to Gotham City, which was a grim ogre, greedy for anguish, thirsty for pain.  
  
Above the city flew an oddity of nature, of reality, and of all things logical. By appearance it was a land vehicle, yet it flew through the air with a grace that would put even the most flighty bird to shame. Inside the vehicle were individuals of equal grandeur. Teens that defied logic as though it were a trifle. In fact, they didn't break the laws of physics, they rewrote them all together. They were, after all, Young Justice.  
  
"I don't understand why we couldn't have taken the portal," Superboy noted as they sailed over the crowd of thousands.  
  
"Because," Red Tornado said as he managed the controls, "Robin used up the energy pack adjusting the portal to accommodate his Redbird."  
  
"Oh yeah."  
  
"Above them, racing in a chariot of black, was Batman. He roared through the skies via his Bat Wing, a man on a mission, a man with a plan. The bystanders below pointed and stared at the sights above them, but none of them could grasp the grandeur, the seriousness, of the situation. To them, it was all part of the show.  
  
They rocketed to the darkest region of The City of Tomorrow, to a loan building. It stood out like a cancer amongst the spawning skyscrapers and pulsating lights and sounds of the city. It was a typical electronics warehouse. At least, it used to be. Now it was a building under reconstruction. Inside the team hoped to find the one they were looking for, and hoped to bring another to justice.  
  
The Bat Wing settled down several miles away, its jet engines muffled by the surrounding trees. The Super Cycle, being as quiet as a whisper when it wanted to be, settled right next to the building's entrance.  
  
Quietly the group waited, poised to bust down the door at a second's notice, but respected Batman's plan and waited for him. With them was Batgirl, and word was Nightwing was going to join them shortly. This was it, the moment of truth.  
  
"We move," the Bat said, slipping up behind them like a trickle of water. The team, including Lobo, would have jumped out of their boots, had they not been so tensed.  
  
With a nod from Batman, Superboy burst the door down in an explosion of tactile telekinesis. Batman and Batgirl were the first to enter, merging with the shadows before the team could even enter. This was meant to take advantage of the suddenness of their entrance. If anyone was inside, they would be focused on the youngsters, and not them.  
  
They fanned out into groups and searched the area. Barely any light, natural or whatever, touched the ground. But they managed. They were Young Justice. Nothing could beat them.  
  
Each creak of the floorboard, each scuffle of soot, sent their hearts racing. They maneuvered through the darkness, but the unknown haunted them. Unsure, they continued in the blackness, until a blinding light pierced the area.  
  
"They're not here," Batman said, his hand clutching a power switch. The place was awash in florescent light, making the empty factory less menacing.  
  
"How do you know that?" Wonder Girl asked.  
  
"Joker would have come to see what was up. He would have tried to stop us." He walked forward.  
  
"You mean he's gone already?" Superboy said. "BLAST! We're always just one step behind."  
  
"Not so much," Batman assured him. "From the looks of things he was in a hurry to abandon this place, which means things weren't going according to schedule. Look around. See if you can find anything."  
  
The team scattered. With the fear of Joker diminished they were able to relax a bit. But their nerves were still shot.  
  
"Is it just me, or does this place give you the creeps," Impulse said to Superboy as the two searched around at a walking pace.  
  
"I know what you mean. And why does this place smell like mold? I don't see any mold around here."  
  
"Must be in the ventilation shafts."  
  
"Good point."  
  
The two young gentlemen opened a large metal door. The inside was dark, void of any lighting. In the middle, hanging from a support beam, was a piece of rope. On the ground, beside a puddle of blood, was a plate of food and a note. Impulse picked up the note.  
  
"What's it say?" Superboy asked.  
  
"`Robin, she's on the roof. This is all I can do to help you. H.Q.' Who's H.Q.?"  
  
"I don't know, but something tells me we should see what's up on the roof."  
  
Meanwhile, searching the upper regions, Secret floated, her mind focused on finding Robin. She slipped through each crack, each crevice, looking for some sign of a secret entrance of sorts. She came upon a lone door, opened slightly. She peeked her head in. It was well furnished, or at least more furnished than any other place in the place. She noted the shag couch, fine leather chair, a notebook, and what looked like a tape player. She picked up the pad. On it were crude scribbles of a young man, bound and gagged, crying, while someone with a weird googly face wrote something on a notepad. She puzzled over it for a second, then put it down. She then proceeded to examine the tape player.  
  
"What have you got there Secret?" a familiar voice asked. She spun to see Empress and Wonder Girl standing there.  
  
"It looks like a tape player," she said.  
  
"Well, let's play it." Nodding, Secret pushed the start button.  
  
"Ugh....mo...mom.....mommy....." a voice gargled.  
  
"Robin?" Secret said. The two ladies listened further, unaware of the silent whisper that approached from behind them.  
  
"And how do you suggest we do that?" they listened further.  
  
"Simple." A metallic sound. "Like this!"  
  
"Oh...oh dear God," Empress said as the screams played out over the tape recorder.  
  
"Hera!"  
  
"Robin...Tim...." Tears began to swell as she dropped the player to the ground. The screams grew louder and louder as it sounded as though something was being stabbed into human flesh.  
  
"Hmm.....let's try hot glue," the menacing voice cackled on the other end. Before it could carry out any further, a black boot shot through the recorder, smashing it to pieces. The two ladies shot up to see an individual, clad in black and navy blue, his hair black and eyes masked. He held his head down as his chest heaved with anger.  
  
"Bastard," he growled.  
  
"Nightwing?" Empress whispered.  
  
The Lad of Lightning and Teen of Tomorrow crept out onto the rooftop. The sounds of the city could be heard even from there as she shimmered like the sun in the horizon. A cold wind froze the hairs on their skin as they walked out.  
  
"Look," Impulse said, pointing to a patch of purple tied to a pole.  
  
"Who do you think it is?"  
  
"I don't know," Superboy said. "But we should help her."  
  
They approached the individual. Impulse went to work untying the knots, while Superboy, in typical fashion, approached her from the front.  
  
"Don't worry, we'll have you.....AUGH!!!" He tumbled backward, nearly falling off the side.  
  
"What, what is...oh sweet Jesus." The two gazed at the horrible, frozen face of death as it grinned at them, void of eyes, void of color, void of life.  
  
"Her name was Spoiler," a voice said. Batman approached the two gentlemen and, calmly, untied the body. "She is....was...Robin's girlfriend."  
  
"And that mask in the box," Kon noted, "belonged to her?"  
  
"Exactly." He picked up the body and, reaching into his belt, pulled out a black mask, similar to the one she used to wear. He covered her face, providing her body with some shred of dignity, as he carried her away.  
  
They were joined by the rest of the team, including Nightwing, on the rooftop. Secret was being comforted by Empress. The rest were simply staring at the body in his arms.  
  
"The body comes with us," he said. "We'll bury it later. Did you find anything?"  
  
"Actually," Red Tornado said, holding out a large piece of paper, "I found this near a truck exit." Batman looked at the paper, then looked up at the team.  
  
"This is a map, marking all the locations of the bombs." He showed it to the team. The bombs were marked in a circular area around one central point.  
  
"LexCorp," Empress whispered, her mind clear. Batman nodded.  
  
"Batgirl, you and the rest take the paper. Split into groups, take an area, and be sure to disarm those bombs. Nightwing, you're with me."  
  
"What about you?" Tornado said. "What are you going to be doing?"  
  
"We're going to take out The Joker...." 


	8. Chapter 8

Lex Tower, the alpha and omega of the business community. Fortunes were made and broken on its back, and competition was crushed under its feet.  
  
Batman and Nightwing made their way through the winding corridors and vast hallways. Being that it was New Years Eve, the place was filled to the brim with security guards. And it was. All along the walls and across the floors were guards, faces wide with smiles and bodies limp. Joker spared no expense.  
  
Nightwing followed Batman's lead, staying close behind, shadowing his every move. Batman came to a door, and, pressing his ear against it, began to open it slowly.  
  
It was a spacious office, large windows providing a luxurious view of the city skyline. Seated at a chair, glass of wine in hand, sat the new CEO of LexCorp, Talia Head. Batman made his way to her position, making just enough noise so that she could hear him. She made no movement.  
  
He touched her arm, moved in front to see her face to face. She was smiling, her eyes like glass marbles, a small dart jammed in the side of her neck. Batman brought his fingertips to her eyelids, and gently shut them and, taking the drink, placed it down beside her.  
  
The two moved on.  
  
*********************  
  
Three bombs were already down as Lobo Empress, and Batgirl made their way through the sewer system. Above them they could hear the rapid pitter patter of Impulse's feet as he took care of the bombs on ground level. The trio crept closer to their next target. Their feet sloshed through the filth and stench of human waste. Lobo didn't seem phased by it. Empress, however, was simply glad that she had a mask to cover most of the stench.  
  
"There," she said pointing down a ways. "It should be just around that corner."  
  
"Can I keep one of `em `Nita? Y'know, as a...uh...souvenir?"  
  
"No Lobo. The LAST thing you need is a..." Before she could finish her sentence she felt the weight of several large men pushing her, face first, into the sewage water, and the sound of Lobo's head being introduced to several lead pipes.  
  
*A trap!* She thought to herself as she struggled to be free. *It was a trap!*  
  
*********************  
  
Superboy and Wonder Girl flew high in the sky. Below them the people, numbering in the THOUSANDS, huddled together, enjoying the lights and festivities. From that high up they all seemed like ants. Ants that were unaware of a giant magnifying glass hovering just above them.  
  
The two settled down on top of the next building.  
  
"If I remember the map correctly," she said, "the bomb should be somewhere up here."  
  
"Great. With this one down, that makes four for us. How do you think the others are doing?"  
  
"Hopefully better than us. Joker was pretty efficient. I wonder what other little tricks he's got in store."  
  
"Relax. It's not like he knew we'd be coming. So what's the worst that could happen?" As if to answer his question, the door burst open, and out poured a wave of vile and wretched villains of every shape and size.  
  
"You HAD to say it, didn't you?" Wonder Girl scolded as the group surrounded them. "You just had to go and say it!" Superboy just shrugged.  
  
*************  
  
*Gottagetthatonecan'tforgetthatbomboopssorrymisstoomanypeopleIwonderwhat'son telev isiontonightgottatrythatnewgameheyIfoundanotherbombthatmakeseightjustgottadi sarmthisredwireorisitbluewireohyeahit'sredbecauseitmatchesmycostumetherethat 'sdoneOWWWheywhatareallthesepeopledoinghereuhohtheydon'tlookfriendlyeep!*  
  
*************  
  
"Secret, did you find anything?" Red Tornado's voice echoed through the building.  
  
"Hang on," she said. Wisps of smoke flowed through various cracks in the floorboards, materializing into the shape of the young woman known as Secret.  
  
"Yeah, there's a bomb down there," she said. "But I don't know how you can get to it. There's no way to get in."  
  
"Then, if you'll pardon me, I'll just proceed to make my own entrance." He held out his palm, a rush of hurricane winds blasting through the boards as though they were toothpicks. The two floated down a ways, and were face to face with a large mechanism of death and destruction.  
  
"How many is this?" Secret asked as Tornado began to disarm the bomb.  
  
"Four for us, unless I missed my count. We should almost be done, then we'll join Batman and Nigh.....Uh, hello gentlemen," Red Tornado and Secret looked up to see a large group of unfriendly fellows looking down on them, weapons in hands and blood in their eyes. "Can we help you?"  
  
The men screamed a war cry, and jumped down, like a school of pirana, fresh for the kill.  
  
***************  
  
Batman and Nightwing scaled the stairways, quiet as church mice, as they made their way to the rooftops.  
  
"Batman?" they heard someone weakly call out.  
  
"Robin," Nightwing said, instantly recognizing the voice.  
  
"You handle it. I'm going to the roof." He nodded, and they parted ways.  
  
Nightwing entered the room as swift as a bolt of lightning, sizing the situation up. His night vision goggles couldn't pick anything up, so he advanced forward, following Robin's weak cries.  
  
"Batman, help," he kept saying. Nightwing made his way, until he reached a broom closet. He put his ear to the door. Breathing.  
  
"Hang on Rob," he said, opening the door. "I'll get ya..."  
  
"BANZAI!!!!" A blur of red, white, and black lunged forth, blade flashing in hand.  
  
"Harley Quinn!!!!"  
  
**************  
  
The wind rushed through his cape as Batman walked out onto the rooftop. The screams from the crowd with the sounds of music and drunken celebration were deafening. He surveyed the area. The lights from the city made it almost as bright as day, making hiding difficult. He gazed up at the giant green ball, hovering above them, shimmering in the neon lights.  
  
His eyes shifted to another sight. Below, strapped to the base, was Robin. His arms were stretched out and chained, his mouth gagged. His body hung limply by the ends of his binds.  
  
"Tim," Batman whispered as he made his way to his partner. He defied his own logic and instead opted to listen to his heart.  
  
"Hang on, Tim," he said as he approached his partner. He was in bad shape, his face left in bloody chunks, pieces of metal hanging off his flesh. He noted a burn in the shape of a hand on this face. His red and green costume was faded, tattered and torn. He could smell the stench of human filth all over his partner, see it stained on his costume, along with his blood, sweat, and tears. The anger inside him swelled, but he held it in check. That anger was to be reserved for the culprit, not the victim. A gust of wind coursed through his veins.  
  
He worked the chains fervently, until his partner was finally free. He slumped to the ground, weak.  
  
"Can you walk?" he asked him. Robin nodded. Batman smiled a bit, then proceeded to help his partner up.  
  
"You get out of here," he said. "I'm going to find the Joker." He was relieved that he found Tim, alive. He was in horrible shape, he could see that. But he was alive, and that's all that mattered.  
  
He turned his back to Robin, expecting his partner to walk away to safety. So it was to some surprise when he felt something clawing at his back, attacking him. Batman turned to see Robin, frothing at the mouth, clutching for any bit of flesh he could grab.  
  
"CONTAGIOUS!!!" He screamed as he beat on Batman's chest like a crazed gorilla. "CONTAGIOUS CONTAGIOUS CONTAGIOUS CONTAGIOUS!!!!" The stench from Robin's breath was enough to knock him unconscious as his saliva was like acid in his eyes. He was loathed to hit his own partner, but he had no choice. With one swift swipe he knocked Robin off of him. The young man skittered on the ground, smacking his head against a concrete slab. He remained limp.  
  
Batman slowly got to his feet, when he heard it. He recognized it anywhere. It was a sickening squeal, like someone running their fingers along a chalk board. One would recognize it as just a laugh. But he knew better. It wasn't any laugh.  
  
It was a Joker laugh.  
  
"Hidey-ho there Bats!" he said, sliding down a long pole. His purple and yellow zoot suit pulsed in the flashing lights of the city. Batman stood his ground as Joker primped and sauntered over. He twirled a walking cane in his right hand in an impressive feet of agility. Batman was unimpressed.  
  
Joker approached Batman, standing tall, smile from ear to ear. Batman wore a face chiseled in granite, his finely toned body tensed, fists clenched. They stood face to face, neither saying anything, neither making a move against the other. Around them the wind howled, around them the air throbbed with the lights and sounds of celebrations. Joker stood immersed in the lights and insanity that came with New Years. Batman remained enshrouded by the darkness. Complete opposites in every way, archetypes of ever shape and form.  
  
The Joker smiled wider.  
  
*********************  
  
"FRAGGIN' BASTITCHES!!!" Lobo and Empress were making quick work of their assailants.  
  
"You alright Lobo?" Empress asked, smashing into a pair with her stick.  
  
"Yeah, my head hurts though." He held in the air, with one hand, five burley men. They screamed for him to show them mercy, but Lobo only smiled, and threw them through the wall. "How you handlin' babe? Need help?"  
  
"Nah, I've got it," she said, smashing the heads of the remaining two together, rendering them unconscious. "Batgirl?"  
  
Batgirl tossed her own small group to the ground, barely breaking a sweat.  
  
"Fine," she responded coldly."  
  
"Blech! I'm gonna be tasting raw sewage for a month."  
  
"Haw! Seventeen mooks in seventeen seconds! That's gotta be a record, ya think?"  
  
"I don't know, Lobo. Let's just get this one done and meet Batman back at Lex Tower. Something tells me he's gonna bite off more than he can chew."  
  
***********************  
  
  
  
"*Sigh* You guys had NO idea what you were up against, did you?" Superboy held over the side of the building. Wonder Girl stood beside him, arms folded in mild amusement. Behind them lay strewn almost twenty unconscious others who, like him, had no idea what they were up against.  
  
"P...please...don't drop me," he pleaded.  
  
"You signed on with the Joker," Wonder Girl said. "You signed on with a known psychopath, and you're begging US for mercy?"  
  
"Some people, I know," Superboy said, smiling. The man squirmed.  
  
"Please....I was...only doing what I was payed to do....PLEASE?!?"  
  
"You were hired to kill us, and now you're asking for mercy? Geeze Wonder Girl, does this guy sound pathetic or what?"  
  
"`Or what' seems about right. Let's just end this and disarm the bomb."  
  
"WAIT! PLEASE! I..I swear...this is all a mistake. We were just...hired....to protect that thing. It...it's not even a real bomb!"  
  
"WHAT!?!"  
  
*******************  
  
"Do you think we were too hard on them?" Secret asked Tornado as they flew away from the building, leaving behind a pile of unconscious lackeys.  
  
"Sometimes, Secret, you're too gentle for your own good. Besides, they'll be alright. A little sore, and in some desperate need of some aspirin." Secret giggled a bit.  
  
"Look," she said. "Is that Lex Tower?"  
  
"Yes it is. There are a few more bombs around that area, but they shouldn't....Yes Superboy, I read you. WHAT?!?"  
  
"What? What is it?"  
  
"Not good," he said, eyes narrowing to slits. "Not good at ALL!"  
  
*********************  
  
OkayyeahthatwasfunIthinkI'mdonewellmaybetwomoretogoheymyearisbuzzingohyeahmy communicator...  
  
"Impulse here. Hey Red. Yeah, I was just about finished. Have about two more to....WHAT?!? I'm on my way!"  
  
*********************  
  
"Why are you doing this Quinn?" Nightwing said, dodging over some furniture as Harley Quinn slashed at him with a large butcher knife.  
  
"You Bat brats are always ruining Mr. J's fun! All he ever wanted was to make people laugh, but you guys were always too jealous!"  
  
Nightwing nabbed her arm in mid swipe, tossing her into a nearby futon. She was on her feet instantly. Outside the crowd was going crazy.  
  
"You're insane Quinn," he said. "You're both insane!"  
  
"Yeah, so what. In a few more minutes so will everyone else." She smiled. "That is, if they survive the blast."  
  
Nightwing smiled. "I wouldn't count on it Quinn. We already knew about your little bombs. And, if I'm not mistaken, they've already been disarmed."  
  
"Oh no," she said sarcastically. "You have foiled our sinister and hideous plans. Oh woe is us." She spun her heel into his rib cage, knocking him back.  
  
"NOT! You think we're THAT stupid! Mr. J. knew you'd come looking for Bird Brat. So he planted a little diversion."  
  
She leapt on Nightwing's back, knife to his throat. Blood trickled as she bore the blade down on his flesh.  
  
"And you'll never guess where we put the real bombs."  
  
"Where?" Nightwing choked out. She leaned next to his ear, smiling, as she whispered her little secret.  
  
"Right....under....our.....feet."  
  
"NO!" Nightwing grabbed Quinn by her wrist and, with all the might in his upper body, threw him off of his back. She flew through the air, and crashed through the window. Nightwing rushed to catch her, but was too late. He poked his head out, expecting to see her body plummeting. But nothing was there. Nothing but onlookers pointing upward.  
  
"BLAST IT!!!" He swore as he ran out towards the roof. "Nightwing to Batman. It's all been a diversion. The real bomb is inside the building! Batman!" No response. He ran as fast as he could to reach his partner. It would take too long to search for it. And time was running out.  
  
*****************************  
  
"I have half a mind to toss you off this building, clown," Batman said grimly.  
  
"And I have the other half, and BOY is it dull," Joker quipped.  
  
"Your plan won't work," he said. "Right now Young Justice is disarming your bombs. And I've already formulated an antidote for whatever you've got in that ball up there. It's over."  
  
"Oh no, Batsy," He said, his voice full of venom. "It's far from over. In fact, it's just beginning."  
  
He reached down into his breast pocket and whipped out a pistol. Batman dodged just as several bullets whizzed by his head.  
  
"Come on out Bats," Joker said. "There's nowhere to hide."  
  
Batman attempted to maneuver around the building top. Beneath them the crowd was stirred into a fervor, screaming and hollering as the festivities continued.  
  
"WHAT A GREAT SHOW!" Some famous celebrity cried out over the P.A. system. "AND WE DON'T HAVE MUCH LONGER FOLKS! SOON YOU CAN TAKE ALL THOSE CARES FROM THE 2000'S AND KISS `EM ALL GOODBYE!!!"  
  
"YA HEAR THAT BATS??? IN A FEW MINUTES YOU CAN KISS IT ALL GOODBYE!!! HAHAHAAAAA!!!"  
  
A pair of boots smashed into Joker's face. Batman rolled to his feet just in time to dodge another hail of bullets. Joker laughed as though it were all a joke.  
  
"That's it Bats! Let's play some more!!!"  
  
"This game ENDS, Joker!" Batman called from the shadows.  
  
"So soon? And we were just starting to have FUN! Don't you want to have fun? Me and Robin were having fun!" Joker pointed the gun at Robin's prone body. "But I think the boy's had enough fun for one life time." A gush of wind blew through as Joker was knocked aside by a wall of blue and black muscle.  
  
"BATMAN!" Nightwing cried out as he held the Joker down. "THE BOMBS!!! THEY WERE A DIVERSION! THE REAL ONE'S STILL IN THE BUILDING!!!"  
  
"Party pooper," Joker said, spraying Nightwing with a cloud of gas from his flower.  
  
"NIGHTWING!" Batman cried out, tackling Joker. His back hit the cold concrete hard, but he kept smiling.  
  
"Oooo....getting a little ROUGH, aren't we?" he teased. "How...SHOCKING!" He touched Batman's arm, a jolt of electricity leaping from his hand. Batman flew back, his body convulsing in pain.  
  
"FIVE MINUTES LEFT! LET'S SEE THE CLOCK!!!" The voice cried on the P.A. The rooftop was awash in bright yellow light as a giant light board was brought to life. Both Batman and Joker were momentarily blinded by its brilliance.  
  
"Oooo...We have a spotlight now Batsy. Good. I want the whole WORLD to see what I do to you."  
  
"You...you'll die too," he said.  
  
"Don't you think I know that," he said, pulling a knife from his coat. "It's called a `swan song' Batsy. End it all in a blaze of glory, and leave them wanting more." He approached Batman, intent on finishing the job. A blast of brilliant blue energy flew just past him, scorching his tie, striking the side of the building in a massive explosion.  
  
"WHO IN THE...?" He looked out. There, flying in, was the cavalry, Young Justice. The team sailed in, guns a blazing, on their Super Cycle, with Lobo and his hog flying close behind.  
  
"Kids today," Joker said, dodging blasts. He reached for something behind him. "If you can't teach `em anything..." he brought up a large rocket launcher, and took aim.  
  
"Then ya gotta BEAT some sense into them."  
  
*FWOOSH!!!*  
  
The rocket sailed outward. The team swerved, trying to dodge, but the rocket moved to fast, was too close, and.....  
  
*KABOOM!!!!*  
  
"OH MY, AND IT LOOKS LIKE FIREWORKS HAVE STARED EARLY!!!!" The voice from below cried gleefully as the Super Cycle, and all its persons, were engulfed in a ball of flame.  
  
Four minutes......  
  
"There, that should take care of that. Now where were....*OOF*!!!" Nightwing slammed into Joker's side, sending him away from Batman, who was still dazed and confused.  
  
"Don't you super types know when to stay DOWN?!?" Joker said, shifting his weight, and thus sending Nightwing over the building's edge.  
  
Three minutes.....  
  
"Now then, let's hope there aren't any more...." Joker looked to find Batman, but he was no longer on the ground. Instead he found him scaling the tower, attempting to cut the wiring that would trigger the bomb.  
  
"Oh no you DON'T!" Joker said. He pointed his gun, pulled the trigger. *Click* Nothing.  
  
"BLAST IT!!!" He tossed the gun aside, and began to scale the pole.  
  
Two minutes.....  
  
"Get down from there," He said, grabbing Batman's heels. Batman tried to kick him away, but his body was still too weak, plus he did not have a good enough grip. He reached down into his utility belt to find something to use against him. Odd...something was missing....  
  
Joker grabbed a rubber chicken from his pants, and, climbing higher, reeled his arm back for the blow.  
  
"I said, get DOWN!!!" He slammed the chicken into Batman's face, the sound of metal around rubber into skull echoing just under the deafening sounds of the party people.  
  
One minute.....  
  
Batman fell to the ground like a lead balloon. He struggled to his feet, his vision fuzzy. He looked around, trying to regain his bearings. Someone was missing....  
  
"HA! I'VE WON BATS!" Joker cried as he stood on top of the ball. " IN THIRTY SECONDS, WE ALL GO UP, AND THE WORLD BECOMES JOKERVANIA!!!"  
  
A pair of headlights flashed into him. The Super Cycle hovered above, its occupants singed, but alive.  
  
.....10.....9.....8......  
  
"HA!!! YOU'RE TOO LATE!!! YOU'RE ALL TOO LATE!!!!  
  
.....7.....6.....5......  
  
"DO SOMETHING!"  
  
"I CAN'T! THE CYCLE WON'T RESPOND! IT'S TOO DAZED!"  
  
.....4....3.....2.....  
  
"I DID IT! I WON!!! I ....." Joker felt someone lightly touch his shoulder. He looked back. Standing there, like an angel of death, was Robin. His costume was in tatters, his body was mangled, but his will, his determination, was all still there. "Here," he said, placing a round metal sphere in Joker's hands. "Hold this." Joker looked down....  
  
.....1.....  
  
A Bat Grenade.  
  
*BOOM!!!!!!*  
  
The sphere burst into a giant fireball mere inches from the trigger, lighting up the sky, turning night into day. The Super Cycle was tossed into the air as the flames engulfed the building top. The crowd ooed and awwed at the sight.  
  
"HAPPY NEW YEARS EVERYBODY!!!! HAPPY NEW YEARS!!!!!"  
  
  
  
****************  
  
The building's top was a smoldering pile of rubble. Below, on the ground, the celebration was still going strong, but on top life was still. Debris was strewn about, the metal tower mangled and warped in with the rubble. Sparks of electricity sparked from wires, still live. The only thing that seemed alive. It resembled the surface of an overcooked potato, sulfurous and black. The heroes slowly made it to their feet.  
  
Slowly some of the chunks of concrete began to stir. Slowly, surely, life began to emerge from the wreckage. Human hands poked through, followed by human bodies. They were tired, they were cold, but, most importantly....they were alive.  
  
"Wha...what the frag happened?" Lobo said as he wiggled his way out from underneath the Cycle.  
  
"Someone get the license of that freight train?" Superboy said, rubbing his head, rolling a stone slab from his back.  
  
From the building's edge Nightwing crawled back on to the top.  
  
"*Whew*!" he said as he fell on his stomach. "That's the only time I'll be glad I was thrown from a building.  
  
Secret materialized through various cracks of rock, while Superboy and Lobo dug their fellow members out.  
  
"Wonder Girl?" Superboy cried out, digging through some rocks. "Cassie, where are you?"  
  
"Ugh, right here," she said, her foot wedged under a steel support beam.  
  
"Are you alright?" he asked her, pulling the beam off her foot. She grabbed onto his shoulders as he helped her to her feet.  
  
"Yeah," she said. She added her weight to the leg that was under the beam, expecting a surge of pain. Nothing. "Leg's alright, and I could use a shower." She patted her pants leg, dust flying up with each slap. "How are you?"  
  
"Fine, now that I've found you." They locked eyes.  
  
"`NITA!!!" Lobo screamed, cupping his hands to his mouth, his gravely voice echoing outward. "NIIIIIITAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!"  
  
"I'm right here mon," she said, standing up right behind Lobo. "There's no need to shout." She was barely on her feet when Lobo embraced her, wrapping his arms around her, clinging her as though she were about to fly away.  
  
"Frag, I thought you were crispy fried toots," he said smiling.  
  
"I...I'm okay. Really." She said, reluctantly returning the gesture, unsure of how to take his display of emotions.  
  
"There ya go Reddy," Impulse said, helping his android companion to his feet. "How you feeling?" Tornado looked at his right arm, a chunk of metal sticking through it.  
  
"Well," he said, his voice calm, full of his typical sarcastic wit, "aside from the fact that I have a metal shaft through my pitching arm, I'm alright. Where's Batgirl?"  
  
No sooner did he say this than Batgirl burst though the rubble behind him. She ran across the building's top, maneuvering around and over each protrude.  
  
"Batman," she said as she stealthily scanned for the Dark Knight.  
  
"Here," his voice said as he opened the door which had been blasted on top of him. Pieces of shrapnel stuck to the meat of his leg, but he was able to limp to his worried female partner.  
  
"Are we all here?" Nightwing asked as they gathered together. They all looked at each other, back and forth, taking in the damage. Everyone was there. Everyone except....  
  
"ROBIN!" Secret cried out from the distance. The team rushed to her place.  
  
He was lying on the ground, smoke lifting from his body. He had tried to leap away in time to escape from the blast. He took it head on.  
  
The fabric of his costume had been blasted away, his cape nothing more than slivers. One glove survived the blast, the other was reduced to just the fingertips. His chest was bare, his metal insignia fused to his skin as it sizzled like bacon in the cold winter winds. His hair had been all but burned off in the flames, chunks remaining. His right leg was twisted, contorted, while his left leg, scorched to the beef, twitched involuntarily. Had he not been wearing so much protection he would most likely have been atomized. As it was, he was alive.  
  
"Did....did we...win?" he choked out. His breathing was forced, his words carefully articulated.  
  
"You did it Rob," Superboy said, holding his hand, a smile on his face. "You saved us." His body had suffered excruciating agony, only small bits of his lip remained intact. He was so weak he could barely blink. But he managed to smile. A tired, but relieved, smile.  
  
"Rest," Batman said. "We'll get you to a hospital."  
  
"No..." he coughed, bits of lung, turned black by the smoke, spewing out with his saliva. "I...I'm contagious. The....the....*cough *cough* gas....drives people...."  
  
"Crazy, we know," Wonder Girl said, trying to relax their leader.  
  
"Ya had us worried," Lobo said. "Heck, ya took out that looser like a pro. That makes ya okay in my book." He smiled, giving him a big thumbs up.  
  
"Thanks....that's....." He coughed more violently, his body convulsing.  
  
"We need to get him to a hospital," Nightwing said as he tried to move him. Robin motioned him away, shaking his head.  
  
"No," he said as he regained his composure. "I....wouldn't make it." He looked around at everyone standing above him, tears in their eyes, tears in his eyes. He tried to smile some more, but could not get it any wider than what it was.  
  
"No, please don't leave us," Secret said, tears streaming down her face. "Don't leave me. Please..." He brought his hand up, touched her cheek. She turned solid, holding his hand as he pressed it against her.  
  
He took his free hand and reached for his face, grasping the only part of his costume that was not harmed in any way from the destruction: His mask. Slowly, of as fast as he could, given his condition, he pulled away. The staples snapped through the dead chunks of his skin as he removed the one thing that divided him from them, kept him from truly uniting with them.  
  
The flesh under his mask was intact, pure as it had been when he had first put it on, on that fateful day. The skin was a healthy peach, his eyes the ocean blue they had always been since birth. It was the only unharmed part on him, standing out from his damaged body, making it seem as though he were wearing a mask made from his own skin.  
  
"I'm sorry Tim," Batman said.  
  
"Don't," he responded. "I wanted...this life. Just...don't...." he started to black out, but regained his composure. "Don't revert. Don't become...like you...did...after Jason....."  
  
The clouds rolled in, covering the blackness of the sky with a dreary gray. But all Tim could see was the stars. God, the stars were so beautiful.  
  
He looked back around at everyone; Lobo, Anita, Cassie, Kon, Bart, Red, Suzie, Dick, Bruce, Cassandra. He recalled vividly the events up to then. `World Without Grown-Ups', their first mission, the first time he ever put on the costume, the fights they had, having the girls join the team, watching The Flying Graysons fall from grace, activating Red Tornado, fighting Harm, fighting Joker, deducing Nightwing and Batman's identities, dating Ari, his father and mother, hanging out, `Sins of the Youth', Stephanie, meeting Lil' Lobo, TEAMING with Lil' Lobo, Empress, the Olympics, Cissie leaving, his first mission ever, Cissie kissing. It was funny; as anal retentive as he was, he found it odd that not all his memories were in order. Life was funny like that.  
  
"Tim," Secret wept, holding his hand tighter, her solid flesh warm against his. "I...I...."  
  
"Shhh...I already know." He gazed at her face, taking in her features. Hair, face, skin, eyes...eyes...eyes....  
  
"I...I don't think...I've ever said...this," he said, his voice trailing. "But...but you...have... the most beautiful...eyes." His chest stopped moving, his head fell back, his body went limp.  
  
"No....." Bart said, tears rolling down his face. Cassie buried her head into Kon's chest, weeping uncontrollably. Lobo and Anita, as well as Batgirl, hung their heads low in solemn respect. Secret wailed into the night air, cradling the body of the one person whom she loved, and who loved her back.  
  
"Hehehe..." a noise came from behind them all. They all turned. There, emerging from beneath a chunk of the New Years ball, was The Joker. His arms were missing, and a chunk of his side was blown out. But somehow, someway, he managed to get to his knees.  
  
"Heh, whaddaya know," he said smiling, his face covered in his own blood. "I...guess...I got....the last laugh.....after all. Hehe....hehehee....hehehehaha.....HEHAHAHAHAAA....HAHAHAHAAAAA..."  
  
*CHUT!*  
  
His pupils narrowed, as his body slid down the shaft of a long, wooden arrow, imbedded in his chest and into the ground. The team looked up to see Cissie, standing upon a high pillar, her bow pointed at The Joker's now dead body. Her face was twisted in rage, the tears pouring down to her chin, as she stood there, stationary as a stone gargoyle.  
  
It began to snow...... 


	9. Epilogue

"Hello, I'm Brian Peterson, with this news update. Officials are still investigating the bizarre occurrence at the 2001 New Years Celebration, which almost ended in disaster.  
  
"International criminal and known psychopath, The Joker, apparently had laced Lex Tower with explosives in an grand scheme to drive the citizens insane. This plot was, however, thwarted by the efforts of the teen sensation known as Young Justice in a fiery conclusion. The final body count at the end of it all reached the double digits, including LexCorp head C.E.O. Talia Head and The Joker himself, who was found impaled upon an arrow. What is most shocking was the discovery of the body of Timothy Drake, son of wealthy industrialist Robert Drake. Officials believe that young Drake was kidnapped by The Joker, but reasons why remain sketchy at best. His funeral will be held later this week."  
  
  
  
******************  
  
  
  
The days never lasted long enough. Night always seemed to come too fast, too often. A lone figure galloped over the roof's edge, a silent sentinel of the night. Somewhere a crime was being committed. Somewhere an innocent was being hurt.  
  
He saw someone close to him buried today. He saw someone he thought would be with him the long haul cut down in his prime. He tried not to think of it, to let his mind wander elsewhere, but it always came back to that same thought. To his smile. To his energy. To his optimism. No matter how bad things got, he always thought things would turn out better in the end. So much potential. So much gift.  
  
He perched himself on top of a stone gargoyle, a mythical creature whose sole purpose was to frighten away the evil spirits. The irony was not lost.  
  
*Goodbye, Tim,* he thought to himself, as he gazed at the moonlit sky.  
  
He cast a line out, embracing the sea of air that cried out for his justice.  
  
He only hoped Batman was alright.  
  
  
  
***************  
  
  
  
  
  
She sat there, curled up in a ball on her bed, anxiety coursing through her bloodstream. Anita Fite had always thought that super heroes were immortal, that they were above death, above such concepts as mortality. Superman died, but came back once. To a hero, death was supposed to be nothing more than a trivial obstacle to be torn through.  
  
But Robin died. He sacrificed himself to save them, to save everyone. She wondered if, when the time came, she could make such a sacrifice. That, when the lives of everyone she knew were in jeopardy, she would make that final decision to give her life for theirs. Deep down inside she wished she could answer with a yes. Deep down inside, however, she knew better.  
  
She heard a door close downstairs. Her hair stood on ends. She thought about Tim, about his family, about how they would never know the sacrifices he made, the challenges he had to face.  
  
She stood up from her bed and, grabbing her costume, made her way downstairs.  
  
"Hey dad," she said, holding her costume behind her back.  
  
"Hey honey," he said. "How are you holding up?"  
  
"I could be better," she said. They exchanged glances.  
  
"What is it honey? You look like you have something on your mind."  
  
She sighed. "Dad, I need to tell you something....."  
  
  
  
************  
  
  
  
Superboy hovered above the skyline of Metropolis, his arms folded, his mind deep in thought as he gazed at the construction crew repairing the damage done by their attempts to save the day. Had they saved the day, though? What had they accomplished? Rob....Tim....was dead. The tower was all but destroyed. Some people, specifically in the media and the government, were starting to point fingers in their directions.  
  
Why couldn't life be fair? Why couldn't life be normal? Why couldn't Tim be alive? And why did it feel like he failed him?  
  
"I figured you'd be here," a friendly voice said. Superboy looked back to see a familiar face, clad in red, blue, and gold.  
  
"Hey Clark," Superboy said. "How was your vacation?" Despite his `boy scout' nature, Superman knew a diss when he heard one.  
  
"Look, Kon, if I had known..."  
  
"I understand, I'm sorry. It's just...."  
  
"There's no need to apologize," he said. "I understand how you feel. I felt the same way when Hal died, and when Oliver died."  
  
"But...he was my friend," Superboy said. "He was my friend, and I was there when he died. I was there when they lowered his casket. Did you know it was closed casket? They didn't want anyone to see him..."  
  
"I know," he said, understanding. "I know."  
  
Rage boiled inside his heart, flowing over, searing his soul. But he remained composed, strong.  
  
"He didn't have to die. I could have saved him. If only I was more like you..."  
  
"You did everything you could. Robin knew the risks. He did what he thought was right."  
  
"But if he had waited, we could have blasted the ball, stopped him, we..." His grief overwhelmed him, but he remained strong, like a pillar of marble.  
  
"Look, I know it's hard. And it's not going to get any easier." He turned his attention elsewhere, something in the distance.  
  
"Go," Superboy said. "The city needs you."  
  
"You going to be alright?" he asked.  
  
"Yeah, I'll be fine. I just need to be by myself a little more. Y'know...to think."  
  
"You know where to find me if you ever want to talk," he said. "Just...take care of yourself." And, in a rush of wind and motion, he was gone, leaving Superboy the way he thought he wanted to be; with his thoughts.  
  
He sure missed Robin......  
  
  
  
*****************  
  
  
  
Happy Harbor. This was where it all started, where it all happened. Secret floated around the corridors of their old headquarters, her smokey tendrils caressing each stone wall, her mind reaching back to that happier time in their lives. Emotions flowed through her as she tried to gain some grasp over the events of recent.  
  
She came to the pool, where they had all been playing so long ago. It was empty now, drained of its water. Her mind reached back, grasping for happier times. The camp-out. Swimming. When Robin first took off his mask.  
  
*You have beautiful eyes.* She had told him that day. She had waited for him to respond in kind, but no response came. Why did he always have to be polite like that?  
  
She flew wildly about, grief controlling her every motion. She tried to close her eyes, but all she could see was his face, beaten and burned, and his eyes, his perfect, blue eyes, gazing into hers.  
  
*You have the most beautiful eyes.* He had told her with his final breath. She began to weep uncontrollably, her wails echoing through the empty hallways. She tried to get him out of her mind, to think about something else, to go back to that happier time, before The Abyss. Before all this. But all she could see was him, his smile, his face, his eyes, those beautiful eyes.  
  
She found herself in the old command room, the table still destroyed, the computer still trashed, the place still in shambles. She dropped to her knees, her mists billowing out as she fell to the ground. Her tears dropped like rain to the floor, absorbed by the layers of dust that had formed from their absence. She gripped her hands to her face, sobbing.  
  
*I'll always be there for you.* His voice echoed in her mind like a song, so wonderful. What she wouldn't give to hear that song again. If only to hear it once.  
  
She knew what she had to do. She felt herself turning inward, whirl pooling into herself, pulling herself into herself, slowly, until she disappeared in a puff.  
  
Returning to the Abyss from whence she was spawned.  
  
  
  
**************************  
  
  
  
"How are you holding up Ciss?" Cassie said, entering the room of her friend. Cassie was sitting on her bed, her eyes fixated on nothing in particular.  
  
"Fine, considering the fact that I killed somebody," she said. Cassie sat down next to her friend, attempting to comfort her.  
  
"He deserved it," she said. "After what he did, the last thing this world needed was for him to be alive. You did what you had to do."  
  
"No, I didn't." She reached down and picked up a stray arrow that was laying on the floor. "When I go to sleep at night, all I can see is my arrow, stuck through his back, his body sliding down its shaft, his blood seeping everywhere. And you know what's worse?" She paused a second.  
  
"I enjoyed it."  
  
She stood up, placing the arrow on her night stand, and began to walk out, when Cassie noticed something shiny on the table. It was a neatly wrapped gift.  
  
"Hey, what's this?" Cassie asked, picking it up. Cissie calmly took it from her hand.  
  
"It's the present I got for Robin, before...." They sat back down, Cassie taking the gift from her hand. She looked over at her forlorn friend, asking the question with her eyes. She nodded. Slowly she dug her finger nails into its ornate paper, slipping its ribbon off, as she unwrapped the Christmas gift meant for their leader.  
  
The Complete Collection of Sherlock Holmes  
  
She opened the first page. On the inside of the cover was something written in ink. Both ladies read the text to themselves.  
  
`To Rob,  
  
Even the World's Greatest Detective has his superior. Figured you'd want someone else to look up to.  
  
Thanks for always understanding, when no one else would.  
  
Cissie,  
  
Olympic Gold Medalist'  
  
Cissie reached her hand over and closed the book. The two friends looked at each other, tears in each others eyes, tears swelling, the sorrow of their loss too much for each one of them to bear by themselves.  
  
So they clung to each other, bearing the burden together.  
  
  
  
****************************  
  
  
  
In the void of space, the intergalactic terror of Lobo rode on his hog, hopping from planet to planet in search of adventure. A lone wolf, with connections to no one. He just saw someone who wouldn't last two seconds against him blown to pieces. But it was all just another day in his life, one less person to kill. Besides, life was too short (or, in his case, too long) to worry about something small like someone dying. The universe was a big place, and somewhere, out there, someone needed fragging.  
  
  
  
******************************  
  
  
  
Batman gazed at the case, unsure of where things went wrong, why all his partners were cut down in such a brutal way. He looked at the costume of the first one who fell to Joker's madness. At that time he had Superman to keep him from taking justice into his own hands. He looked over to the costume that stood next to Jason's. Tim's costume. He adjusted the focus of his eyes, looking at his reflection in the glass. Had his quest been so consuming that no one could escape it? Was his goal so grand that it had to be paid for with other people's lives?  
  
"Batman?" a voice said from behind him. He adjusted his focus to see the reflection of the person behind him.  
  
"Get out of my cave, Bart Allen."  
  
The Lad of Lightning stepped forward, walking up to Batman. He looked into the case, glancing back and forth at both costumes.  
  
"I'm sorry about this Batman," another voice said. Walking out from the shadows was Impulse's mentor, Max Mercury. "He insisted on coming."  
  
"Then he can insist on leaving," Batman said. "I'm not in the mood." "Mr. Batman," Impulse said politely. "Robin...Tim...was my friend. He...he was the only one that put up with me, understood me. And well..." he paused, thinking of the right thing to say. "And I want to make him proud of me. I want to be better. I...I want you to train me."  
  
Batman kept his gaze forward, not bothering to look at the two of them face to face. He thought about Tim, coming up to him and Dick, just waltzing into their world, asking them to train him. And where had that gotten him?  
  
"Never again," he said, walking past the two speedsters, leaving them in the darkness of the cave.  
  
Impulse gazed into the case, at Tim's costume. Max came up behind him, putting his arms on his shoulders.  
  
"I just want to make you proud Rob," he said. He turned to Max, who took him in his arms, hugging him tightly. "Just want to make him proud."  
  
"I know Bart. I know."  
  
  
  
********************  
  
  
  
Snowflakes fluttered gently to the ground, covering the grass in a soft white blanket. The young girl, hair black as charcoal, walked through the fields of snow, her footsteps muffled by the frozen cushions. The cold January nipped at her face, turning her cherub cheeks a rosy red. She held in her hand a dozen red roses, which she cradled delicately in her arms.  
  
She approached a solemn grave, gently dropping to one knee, and set the flowers down at its base. A teardrop froze to her face, which she whipped away with a gloved hand. Looking down, she read what was engraved on its face.  
  
`Timothy Alvin Drake Taken before his time.'  
  
Her father stood behind her, his cape billowing in the bitter winds. The snow began to fall faster, as the two payed their respects to the dead.  
  
"It's time to go Traya," Red Tornado said. Traya looked back at her father, snowflakes falling around her as she stood up. She kissed her fingertips, and touched the top of the gravestone.  
  
"Goodbye Robin," she said. With that, the pair walked away, leaving Robin to rest in peace.  
  
  
  
******************  
  
  
  
Where am I? What is this place? It's so warm, so beautiful. What's that? A light, so white. Must go to it.  
  
Wait, I hear something. Secret? What are you doing here? You're not dead. Oh, wait, I guess you are. Sorry. Steph? Is that you? Mom? Jason? What a beautiful light. So white. But what about Young Justice? What about Bruce? What about....?  
  
The light. So wonderful, so warm. I've never seen anything like it. It's so peaceful here. So relaxing.  
  
Finally. Peace.....  
  
  
  
The End 


End file.
